Strategies at various stages of Product Life Cycle

Strategies followed During Various Stages of Product Life Cycle are :-

1. Strategies during Product Development Stage:
   • Focus is on product
   • Emphasis is on cost reduction
   • Trials are the main tools
   • Exploring of the market starts
   • Publicity of the product (about its coming)
   • Minimum expenses to be maintained during this period
   • Production capacity must be looked after
   • Quality must be checked
   • Focus on work is to be given
   • A good introducer of the product is required
   • In-house working should be emphasised.
2. Strategies during Introduction Stage:
   • Persuade people to try the products.
   • Stress should be on advertising to inform the customer about the product
   • Give introductory offers by providing some attractive gifts to entice the customers.
   • Give a valid reason to the customers to buy the product
   • Dealers should be given good discounts
   • There should be selective distribution to focus on target customers
   • Skimming pricing should be followed to earn higher profits in the initial stages
   • Removing the product deficiencies must be focused on
3. Strategies during Growth Stage:
   • Aggressive advertising is required to stimulate the sales of the product
   • Availability of the product should be ensured to a large number of customers
   • Modifications or new versions of the product are required to be introduced to fulfill the requirement of different customer classes. Strengthening of the distribution channels are required so that the product is easily available wherever required.
   • Focus should be on developing the brand image through promotional activities
   • Competitive prices must be maintained to grab the market.
   • Activities should be customer oriented, an emphasis should be given on customer services to satisfy them to a maximum level.
4. Strategies during Maturity Stage:
   • More and more emphasis is required on the brand image in order to differentiate the product from products of the competitors.
   • More benefits may be provided to the customers e.g. extending the warranty period, guarantee period etc.
   • Change in packaging may be introduced (Reusable packaging).
   • Packaging may be used as a silent salesman by making it more attractive.
   • Requirement to explore the new markets for the product.
   • New uses of the product may be developed.
   • New users of the product may be developed.
   • New Technology can be adopted to enhance the quality of the product.
   • New features can be added to enhance the value of the product.
5. Strategies during Decline Stage:
   • More emphasis on the promotional schemes.
   • Distribution cost should be reduced and the benefit should be transferred to the customers
   • More value addition to the product can be done.
   • Packaging will play a very important role at this stage also, so it should be focused on.
   • Cost of production should also be reduced.
   • Economy packs of the products should be introduced.
   • Try to increase the life of the stage.
   • Emphasis is on sales volume with minimum profit margins

If after all these efforts company fails to restore its position in the market, than the best thing for the company is to take out their existing product from the market and come up with a new product comprising of unique features that can hit the market.