Product life Cycle Strategies

After launching a new product, management expects it will enjoy a long and profitable life. However, Management is also aware of that each of products will have a life cycle. The manufacture life- cycle (PLC) is the course of a product's sales and profits over its lifetime.  It involves five distinct stages which are following:

a.  The product development stage start when the company discover and develops a new- product idea. At the time of product development, sales are nothing and the company's investment costs mount.

b.  The  introduction  stage  is  time  of  slow  sales  growth  since  the  manufacture  is  being introduced  in  the  market.  In this stage Profits are nonexistent because of heavy cost of product introduction.

c.   The growth stage is time of rapid market acceptance and growing profits.

d.  In sales growth the maturity stage is a period of slow down because the manufacture has acquired acceptance by most potential purchaser. Profits level decline or off because of developed marketing outlays to protect the product against competition.

e.  The decline stage is the period in which sales fall off and profits decrease.