The Product Life Cycle

814 Words4 Pages
Marketing Management – Unit 5 Discussion Discuss appropriate marketing strategies that you would pursue in each stage of the (Product Life Cycle) to maximize revenue and profit, whilst extending the product’s life. The Product life cycle (PLC) describes the stages a product passes though during its life span; that is, the introduction, growth, maturity and decline stage. It helps marketers manage and make strategy decisions about the product based on its current stage of the life cycle; from its introduction in the market, rising profits and growth in market share, product maturity and possible end. Below is a table illustrating different characteristics of products through the life cycle stages. PLC Stages Introduction Growth Maturity Decline…show more content…
At this point, many competitors quickly begin to enter the market and the cost of the product can be reduced to maintain a competitive edge. An increase in product distribution channels is also necessary to ensure easy availability to consumers as more units are being sold. The company can also find new uses for or make improvements to the product such as new packaging, size, service warranties and additional features in efforts to differentiate its brand from competitors and command market share to extend the growth stage for as long as possible. Adopting a price penetration strategy as well as intensively distributing the product is also useful in extending the growth…show more content…
This may be as a result of saturation of the market or more readily available substitutes by competitors. Even though the market is in decline, the company can still earn some profit from the product and extend this stage before complete product withdrawal. The company can gradually reduce all expenses associated with the product in a process known as harvesting. In this stage, the company can modify its target market to attract different customer clientele or find new uses for and make additions to the product to entice new customers in its current target market. It can also change the products packaging, size etc. “Entering new markets [internationally or locally] provides companies an opportunity to extend the product life cycles of their different offerings…, [for example], a product that might be in the mature stage in one country might be in the introductory stage in another market (Saylor Academy, pg.

More about The Product Life Cycle

Open Document