Blog post 6

Blog Post 6

Product life cycle

The Product life cycle is the main course that a product takes during its life span in the market.  There are four steps throughout this process. I will list the 4 steps as well as a brief definition.

1. Introductory

This stage is when the new product is brought to the market. There are often few competitors, you are only introducing one product, skimming or penetration pricing strategies occur, and the promotional objective is informing and educating consumers about their new product.

2. Growth

This stage is the point of more competition. During the growth stage more options and editions of product are available. Pricing strategies and now used not to enter the market but to gain market share. During this stage the distribution increases, and the marketing objective is stressing points of difference among competition.

3. Maturity

By the maturity stage there is much more competition and full product lines are offered. The pricing strategies now used are to hold the market share they have. At this point a company would like to maximize distribution.

4. Decline

At this point there is reduced competition, and only best-selling products remain in the market. New pricing strategies are implemented to stay profitable. Often at this point there is less distribution, and little to no promotion at all.