Product Lifecycle

Question 1

What is a product lifecycle?

Answer 1

The series of stages that a product goes through over its lifetime.

Question 2

What happens at the Research and development stage?

Answer 2

• Businesses will invest in researching a certain area of the market and if they discover a business opportunity, they may then take the time and resources to develop a product or service that fits a gap in the market.

Question 3

What happens at the Introduction stage?

Answer 3

• Where a business introduces or launches the new product (or service) to the market.

Question 4

What happens at the Growth stage?

Answer 4

• Successful products often undergo a period of growth as more and more customers discover and buy the product.
• In the early days, just after introduction, the rate of growth tends to increase.

Question 5

What happens at the Maturity stage?

Answer 5

• ## At this stage, the number of new customer and the product has slowed down and the market for the product can be considered mature.

Question 6

What happens at the Saturation stage?

Answer 6

• At this stage, the sales of the product have reached its peak and no longer increase but remain steady.
• Essentially all consumers who want the product or service have bought or acquired it.

Question 7

What happens at the Decline stage?

Answer 7

• Changes in fashion, consumer tastes/preferences, technological advances and new competition offering similar products can all mean that the demand for a product begins to fall.

Question 8

What do extension strategies aim to delay?

Answer 8

A product or service from reaching the stage where sales start to decline.

Question 9

What are some extension strategies ?

Answer 9

• Update packaging or rebranding
• Changing the target market
• Advertising
• Adding more/different features