{"id":15617,"date":"2021-03-03T09:00:27","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T09:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/?p=15617"},"modified":"2023-04-10T10:54:58","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T09:54:58","slug":"the-definitive-guide-to-the-product-life-cycle-model-how-to-use-it-in-product-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/the-definitive-guide-to-the-product-life-cycle-model-how-to-use-it-in-product-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Definitive Guide to the Product Life Cycle Model & How to Use it in Product Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the years, you\u2019ve probably acquired your fair share of what you now think of as junk. As the pace of technological innovation increases, the lifespan of products seems to be shortening all the time. But this general tendency is nothing new. In fact, the product life cycle (PLC) has long been an integral part of new product development.<\/span>
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When businesses launch a new product or a new service, they recognise that it isn\u2019t going to last forever (though, of course, some products and services can have a very long lifespan). They have to consider all this from the outset: how they launch new products, then their maturation phase, all the way through to their eventual decline and retirement.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Most of this planning goes on out of the view of consumers, of course. But when you think about it, it makes sense. No manufacturer or service provider can work on the assumption that a newly-launched product or service will endure infinitely into the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, when we talk about the product life cycle, it\u2019s important to understand exactly how it\u2019s understood and used in product marketing<\/a>. That\u2019s what we\u2019ll explore in this guide. The product life cycle concept informs practically every aspect of business decision-making, so it\u2019s crucial to everything from <\/span>pricing<\/span><\/a> and marketing to breaking into new markets.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this in-depth article, we\u2019ll provide a concise definition of the product life cycle model and outline its various stages. We\u2019ll also break down how product life cycles work, and how your business might put them into practice. Then we\u2019ll examine practical examples of product life cycles and look at some of the ways they can be extended by effective product lifecycle management (PLM).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Defining the Product Life Cycle<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The term \u2018product life cycle\u2019 refers to the respective stages of a process each product goes through, from its initial launch to its retirement and withdrawal from the market. Marketers bear these stages in mind when working out what to do with a particular product.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll discuss this in more detail in the following section, but four different stages of the product life cycle: its introduction stage, its growth phase, its maturity, and its decline. The lengths of these different stages can vary quite substantially. Some products may have a long growth stage, while others might rapidly reach maturity and soon decline.<\/span><\/p>\n

Obviously, there\u2019s also a development stage that precedes a product\u2019s introduction to new markets, but for our purposes, it\u2019s more relevant to concentrate on the four phases we\u2019ve just outlined.<\/span><\/p>\n

Product life cycle analysis is central to marketing strategies for both new and existing products and other decision-making processes, such as pricing. Once a particular product has already reached its saturation point, marketers then need to think about how they might prevent (or delay) the onset of the decline stage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It might be that the introduction of some new features could help it to maintain market share. However, for most products, strategies such as these are likely to have only limited efficacy. It then becomes a matter of managing their decline and preparing replacements.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Stages of the Product Life Cycle<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As we\u2019ve just been discussing, the product life cycle has four general phases: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. The length of each phase will depend on the particular characteristics and lifespan of individual products and the prevailing market conditions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to point out here that the vast majority of new product launches fail. In fact, one expert from the Harvard Business School <\/span>has estimated<\/span><\/a> that 95 per cent of the 30,000 new products launched each year end up as failures.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, on the flip side of the coin, some products establish themselves as long-term fixtures. When Apple first launched its iPhone in 2007, few would have predicted that it would still be such a phenomenon all these years later. Through savvy marketing, a strong brand, and continual innovation, the iPhone remains a huge seller.<\/span><\/p>\n\t

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Simultaneously, though, Apple\u2019s iPhone has been so successful largely because the company understands the product life cycle so well. It has been able to judge when existing models are approaching the end of their lifespan and replace them with new ones. This has served to bolster Apple\u2019s reputation as a reliable innovator.<\/span><\/p>\n

It goes without saying that very few products can expect to endure in the same way Apple\u2019s iPhone series has. But it is an interesting case study and one that demonstrates the value of understanding the product life cycle. The ability to anticipate each stage as it comes, and to read market conditions astutely, is of the utmost importance in this regard.<\/span><\/p>\n

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PLC Stages: What are They and What Do They Mean?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

So, following on from our discussion in the previous section, let\u2019s look at the respective phases of the product life cycle in more detail:<\/span><\/p>\n