Product Life Cycle Analysis

Choose a different product for each of the four key stages listed. For each stage of the product life cycle, describe the
product you have chosen, explain how it reached the current phase of the cycle, and detail how it should be handled moving forward. One typed, short
paragraph is sufficient for your description of each stage of the product life cycle. Your grade will be based on the appropriateness of your product
choice and your explanation of each stage of the product life cycle.
Be sure to select and analyze one product for each of the following stages of the product life cycle. Please note that you are to choose a different
product for each stage:
Introduction or Incoming Stage: Products are characterized by low sales and losses, as well as high investment risk. A limited number of high-income
or innovative customers are the target market.
Growth or Pre-Peak Stage: When innovative consumers purchase a product and recommend it to friends, the product enters the growth stage. The
most desirable products for retailers are those experiencing the growth stage, because they are characterized by accelerating sales and the highest
profit levels of any stage in the product life cycle. In the growth stage, product variations begin to appear and the number of retailers carrying the
product expands.
Maturity or Peak Stage: Sales increase at a slower rate and finally begin to level off. Characteristics of this stage are a highly competitive market,
falling prices and profits, and more intensive advertising. This is the most competitive stage for retailers, and prices are prominently displayed in
promotions for the item.
Decline and Outgoing Stage: During the decline stage, the target market shrinks and price-cutting minimizes profit margins. Normally, products in this
stage of the product life cycle are dropped from future assortments, and heavy markdowns are taken on remaining inventory.