Product Life Cycle and Durable Goods
Product Life Cycle
Product life cycle is the stages through which a product or its category bypasses. From its introduction to the marketing, growth, maturity to its decline or reduce in demand in the market. Not all products reach this final stage, some continue to grow and some rise and fall
There is no set time period for the PLC and the length of each stage may vary. One product's entire life cycle could be over in a few months. Another product could last for years. Also, the Introduction stage may last much longer than the Growth stage and vice versa.
The Four Stages of the Product Life Cycle
1. Introduction: The Introduction stage is probably the most important stage in the PLC. In fact, most products that fail do so in the Introduction stage. This is the stage in which the product is initially promoted. Public awareness is very important to the success of a product. If people don't know about the product they won't go out and buy it. There are two different strategies you can use to introduce your product to consumers. You can use either a penetration strategy or a skimming strategy. If a penetration strategy is used then prices are set very high initially and then lowered over time. This is a good strategy to use if there are few competitors for your product. Profits are high with strategy but there is also a great deal of risk. If people don't want to pay high prices you may lose out. The second pricing strategy is a skimming strategy. In this case you set your prices very low at the beginning and then increase them. This is a good strategy to use if there are a lot of competitors who control a large portion of the market. Profits are not a concern under this strategy. The most important thing is to get you product known and worry about making money at a later time.
2. Growth: If you are lucky enough to get your product out of the Introduction stage you then enter this stage. The Growth stage where your product starts to grow. In this stage a very
Product life cycle is the stages through which a product or its category bypasses. From its introduction to the marketing, growth, maturity to its decline or reduce in demand in the market. Not all products reach this final stage, some continue to grow and some rise and fall
There is no set time period for the PLC and the length of each stage may vary. One product's entire life cycle could be over in a few months. Another product could last for years. Also, the Introduction stage may last much longer than the Growth stage and vice versa.
The Four Stages of the Product Life Cycle
1. Introduction: The Introduction stage is probably the most important stage in the PLC. In fact, most products that fail do so in the Introduction stage. This is the stage in which the product is initially promoted. Public awareness is very important to the success of a product. If people don't know about the product they won't go out and buy it. There are two different strategies you can use to introduce your product to consumers. You can use either a penetration strategy or a skimming strategy. If a penetration strategy is used then prices are set very high initially and then lowered over time. This is a good strategy to use if there are few competitors for your product. Profits are high with strategy but there is also a great deal of risk. If people don't want to pay high prices you may lose out. The second pricing strategy is a skimming strategy. In this case you set your prices very low at the beginning and then increase them. This is a good strategy to use if there are a lot of competitors who control a large portion of the market. Profits are not a concern under this strategy. The most important thing is to get you product known and worry about making money at a later time.
2. Growth: If you are lucky enough to get your product out of the Introduction stage you then enter this stage. The Growth stage where your product starts to grow. In this stage a very