Product Life Cycle Working

Products, like people, have life cycles. The product life cycle is broken into four stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. This concept is used by management and by marketing professionals as a factor in deciding when it is appropriate to increase advertising, reduce prices, expand to new markets, or redesign packaging.
The process of strategizing ways to continuously support and maintain a product is called Product life cycle management.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The concept of product life cycle helps inform business decision-making, from pricing and promotion to expansion or cost-cutting.
The product life cycle is defined by four stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

How Product Life Cycles Work:

1. A product begins with an idea, and within the confines of modern business, it isn't likely to go further until it undergoes research and development and is found to be feasible and potentially profitable. At that point, the product is produced, marketed, and rolled out.
2. The product introduction phase generally includes a substantial investment in advertising and a marketing campaign focused on making consumers aware of the product and its benefits. Assuming the product is successful, it enters its growth phase. Demand grows, production is increased, and its availability expands.
3. As a product matures, it enters its most profitable stage, while the costs of producing and marketing decline. However, it inevitably begins to take on increased competition as other companies emulate its success, sometimes with enhancements or lower prices. The product may lose market share and begin its decline.
4. Important:The stage of a product's life cycle impacts the way in which it is marketed. A new product needs to be explained, while a mature product needs to be differentiated.
5. The stage of a product's life cycle impacts the way in which it is marketed to consumers. A new product needs to be explained, while a mature product needs to be differentiated from its competitors.

The Disadvantages of Life Cycle Management:
Back in 1965, Theodore Levitt, a marketing professor, wrote in the Harvard Business Review that the innovator is the one with the most to lose because so many truly new products fail at the first phase of their life cycle, the introductory stage. The failure comes only after the investment of substantial money and time into research, development, and production.