Product Life Cycle

Definition: Product life cycle (PLC) is the cycle through which every product goes through from introduction to withdrawal or eventual demise.


Description: These stages are:

 

Introduction: When the product is brought into the market. In this stage, there's heavy marketing activity, product promotion and the product is put into limited outlets in a few channels for distribution. Sales take off slowly in this stage. The need is to create awareness, not profits.

The second stage is growth. In this stage, sales take off, the market knows of the product; other companies are attracted, profits begin to come in and market shares stabilize.

The third stage is maturity, where sales grow at slowing rates and finally stabilize. In this stage, products get differentiated, price wars and sales promotion become common and a few weaker players exit.

The fourth stage is decline. Here, sales drop, as consumers may have changed, the product is no longer relevant or useful. Price wars continue, several products are withdrawn and cost control becomes the way out for most products in this stage.

 

Extension strategies

These extend the life of the product before it goes into decline.  Again businesses use marketing techniques to improve sales.  Examples of the techniques are:

• Advertising – try to gain a new audience or remind the current audience
• Price reduction – more attractive to customers
• Adding value – add new features to the current product, e.g. video messaging on mobile phones
• Explore new markets – try selling abroad
• New packaging – brightening up old packaging, or subtle changes such as putting crisps in foil packets or Seventies music compilations

Some criticisms of the product life cycle

•The shape and duration of the cycle varies

•Strategic decisions can change the life cycle

•It is difficult to recognise exactly where a product is in its life cycle

•Length cannot be reliably predicted

•Decline is not  inevitable?

•Assumes no reversion to earlier consumer preferences

•It can become a self fulfilling prophecy

 
 

Extension strategies

These extend the life of the product before it goes into decline.  Again businesses use marketing techniques to improve sales.  Examples of the techniques are:

• Advertising – try to gain a new audience or remind the current audience
• Price reduction – more attractive to customers
• Adding value – add new features to the current product, e.g. video messaging on mobile phones
• Explore new markets – try selling abroad
• New packaging – brightening up old packaging, or subtle changes such as putting crisps in foil packets or Seventies music compilations

Some criticisms of the product life cycle

•The shape and duration of the cycle varies

•Strategic decisions can change the life cycle

•It is difficult to recognise exactly where a product is in its life cycle

•Length cannot be reliably predicted

•Decline is not  inevitable?

•Assumes no reversion to earlier consumer preferences

•It can become a self fulfilling prophecy

 

 

New Product Development Stages

Before a product can embark on its journey through the four product life cycle stages, it has to be developed. New product development is typically a huge part of any manufacturing process. Most organizations realize that all products have a limited lifespan, and so new products need to be developed to replace them and keep the company in business. Just as the product life cycle has various stages, new product development is also broken down into a number of specific phases.

New Product Development

Developing a new product involves a number of stages which typically center around the following key areas:

The Idea: Every product has to start with an idea. In some cases, this might be fairly simple, basing the new product on something similar that already exists. In other cases, it may be something revolutionary and unique, which may mean the idea generation part of the process is much more involved. In fact, many of the leading manufacturers will have whole departments that focus solely on the task of coming up with ‘the next big thing’.

Research: An organization may have plenty of ideas for a new product, but once it has selected the best of them, the next step is to start researching the market. This enables them to see if there’s likely to be a demand for this type of product, and also what specific features need to be developed in order to best meet the needs of this potential market.

Development: The next stage is the development of the product. Prototypes may be modified through various design and manufacturing stages in order to come up with a finished product that consumers will want to buy.

Testing: Before most products are launched and the manufacturer spends a large amount of money on production and promotion, most companies will test their new product with a small group of actual consumers. This helps to make sure that they have a viable product that will be profitable, and that there are no changes that need to be made before it’s launched.

Analysis: Looking at the feedback from consumer testing enables the manufacturer to make any necessary changes to the product, and also decide how they are going to launch it to the market. With information from real consumers, they will be able to make a number of strategic decisions that will be crucial to the product’s success, including what price to sell at and how the product will be marketed.

Introduction: Finally, when a product has made it all the way through the new product development stage, the only thing left to do is introduce it to the market. Once this is done, good product life cycle management will ensure the manufacturer makes the most of all their effort and investment.

Thousands of new products go on sale every year, and manufacturers invest a lot of time, effort and money in trying to make sure that any new products they launch will be a success. Creating a profitable product isn’t just about getting each of the stages of new product development right, it’s also about managing the product once it’s been launched and then throughout its lifetime.

This product life cycle management process involves a range of different marketing and production strategies, all geared towards making sure the product life cycle curve is as long and profitable as possible.