Question

Identify a product that would fit in each of the following stages of the product life cycle. 1) introduction, 2) Growth, 3) maturity, 4) decline.

Please write in paragraph form. Thank you for the help1

Answer 1

1. Introduction stage - The products in this stage are generally new products and the marketing and the promotions done by the company are quite high. Costs of the products are generally high and the competition is little and it is the make or break stage for the product. One of the examples of a product that falls into introduction category is HOLOGRAPHIC PROJECTIONS. It has not been a long time since holographic projectors were launched into the market and this technology helps the customer to turn any flat surface into a realistic touchscreen interface. A huge investment is still being made into its research and technology and the price of the product is quite high to suit only the early adopters.

(b) Growth Stage - In the growth stage, the competition of a product increases as there are larger number of comapnies producing this product so the price of the product decreases and consequently, the demand increases. Companies invest heavily in advertisements and promotions to gain an edge over their competitors. One of the examples of a product that falls into growth category is SMART WATCHES. The demand for smart watches has been rising significantly and there are a number of competitors in the market who manufacture smart watches include Apple, MI etc. and because of increasing competition, the companies were forced to drop the prices of the watches as well.

(c) Maturity Stage - The sales of a product in the maturity stage starts to slow down. The price of the products start declining due to declined sales. At this stage, the sales of the product have completely maxed out so companies try to bring innovation into the products so as to increase the market share. One of the examples of a product that falls in the maturity stage is LAPTOPS. Laptops have been around from many years now and there is hardly any innovation made or seen in laptops. They are slowly being replaced by mobile phones and ipads.

(d) Decline stage - In the decline stage, the sales of the product decreases significantly and there is rarely any demand of the product in the market. The companies observe a significant loss of market share with this product because of its negligible demand. So, even the companies invest minimum in the marketing of these products because eventually these products retire. One of the examples of the product that falls into Decline stage is TYPEWRITERS. Typewriters have really limited functionality and they have been heavily replaced by computers and laptops who offer much more functions than a simple typewriter and therefore, the demand for this product is negligible.