The concept of the product life cycle (PLC) is one of major tools used in developing marketing strategy. This theory is more and more popular in recent years, because many marketers desire for a tool to help them understand the product’s development which means all products have their own life time as they eventually decline and disappear. Based on that understanding of the product, the marketers can adapt their marketing strategy and find a new product to replace the dying one. According to Brassington and Pettitt (2003), the PLC concept explains the life of a product in terms of birth, growth, maturity, decline and eventual death which is based on the assumption that the product has a life like a human. During its life, the product goes through different stages, and in each stage it has different performance in the market which includes different market growth rates and different competitive conditions. This implies the marketer must set up different marketing strategy for each stage to suit for the development of product.

The aim of this essay is to discuss the concept of product life cycle which can give the marketer some basic information about this popular concept. Firstly, the general background of the product life cycle is given which includes the concept and the stages of PLC. Secondly, the strengths and weaknesses of the product life cycle are discussed. At the same time, some recommendations to mitigate the negative influences of the product life cycle are presented. Finally, a general conclusion is draw.

Concept of Product Life Cycle

The concept of PLC is a useful marketing tool to describe the change of the sale for the product during its lifetime. According to Armstrong and Kotler (2000), product life cycle (PLC) is the course of a product’s sales and profits over its lifetime. The product life cycle is a useful concept to describe how products develop from first introduction into the market to eventual obsolescence. The theory is that products, like living things, have a natural life cycle beginning with introduction, going through a growth phase, reaching maturity, then going into decline, and finally becoming obsolete (Blythe, J. 2001). The classic PLC involves four distinct stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline (Jobber, D. 1998). But Blythe (2001) thought there are five major stages of PLC, which are product development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. In this essay, the product development is introduced firstly which is seen as the first and necessary stage in product development process. The reason is explained in the following section.

At the product development stage, it begins when the company recognises the customer need for a special product. Then the company design and develop the new-product idea based on that demand. During the stage of product development, sales are zero and the company’s investment costs mount (Armstrong, G. and Korler, P. 2000). Although it seems useless to analyse the sale and cost in this stage, it is still a very important part of a product life cycle. Its length will affect the whole cycle in some way.

Then, the product enter into introduction stage which the company push the product into markets. In this stage, only the marketers understand the characteristics of this stage, they can make the right decision about the product strategy which is suitable for the new product. Because the recognition of customer for the new product needs a period, this introduction stage is a period of slow sales growth as the product is just introduced in the market. Profits are negative because of the low sales and the huge expense in advertising and promotion. Advertising and promotion are the key activities for business to attract the customer to try the new product. That huge investment is reasonable and necessary. And also the company needs to consider the investment to attract the distributors and build the inventory. At the same time, it is few competitors at this stage.

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If the new product satisfies the market, it will enter a growth stage, which is a period of rapid market acceptance and increasing profits (Armstrong, G. and Korler, P. 2000). At the beginning of this stage, the sale and profit grow quickly. More and more customers accept the product and buy it, the investment of promotion and advertising is lower than the introduction stage. And market share is increased accordingly and quickly. At the same time, more and more companies recognise the product has big profit. Therefore, more and more competitors enter into this market. After the development of the ...

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