Microsoft Word marketing doc

4.5
 
 
C
ONCEPT OF PRODUCTS LIFE CYCLE
 
The management of the company wants the product to earn handsome 
profit to cover all the cost, effort and risk that went into it and hopes that the 
sales of the product will be high and long lasting. But like human beings, every 
product has a life span at the end of which it does and its capacity to generate 
sales and earn profits diminishes and ultimately vanishes. Just like a man, a 
product too has its childhood, addescence youth and old age, i.e., life cycle. 
Product life cycle has been defined by Philp kotler “as an attempt to 
recognize distinct stages in the sales history of the product”.
D.T. Kollat, R.D. Balck Well and J.F Robeson have defined it “as a 
generalized model of sale and profit trends for a product class or category over 
a period of time. 
There are distinct opportunities, threats and problems related to each 
stage of the life cycle of product, influencing the profits of the product and 
requiring different marketing strategy. 
The concept of product life cycle has the following implications. 
i)
The life of a product is limited. 
ii)
Product sales pass through distinct stages each posing different 
challenges to the marketer. 
iii)
Product profits rise and fall at the different stages of the product life 
cycle. 
iv)
Product requires different marketing strategies in the different stages of 
its life cycle. 
Stages of Product life Cycle 
A product passes through the four stages of its life cycle. 
1)
Introduction 
2)
Growth 
3)
Maturity 
4)
Decline. 
Some authors have mentioned five stages i.e. Introduction, 
Growth, Maturity, Saturation and Decline. 

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Product Life-Cycle 
S 
A 
Sales
L 
E 
S
A 
N 
D 
P 
Profit
R 
O 
F 
I 
T 
S 
(Rs.) Introduction 
Marketing Growth 
Decline