Product Life Chycle”:
Product life-cycle (PLC) like human beings, products also have an arc. From birth to death, human beings pass through various stages e.g. birth, growth, maturity, decline and death. A similar life-cycle is seen in the case of products. The product life cycle goes through multiple phases, involves many professional disciplines, and requires many skills, tools and processes,
Product life cycle
The concept of product life cycle is based on the following observations: * Products have a limited life. * Product sales pass through distinct stages, each posing different challenges, opportunities, and problems to the seller. * Profits rise and fall at different stages of the product lifecycle. * Products require different marketing, financial, manufacturing, purchasing, and the human resource strategies in each stage of their life cycle.

Stage Characteristics
1. Market introduction stage 1. costs are very high 2. slow sales volumes to start 3. little or no competition 4. demand has to be created 5. customers have to be prompted to try the product 6. makes no money at this stage
2. Growth stage 1. costs reduced due to economies of scale 2. sales volume increases significantly 3. profitability begins to rise 4. public awareness increases 5. competition begins to increase with a few new players in establishing market 6. increased competition leads to price decreases
3. Maturity stage 1. costs are lowered as a result of production volumes increasing and experience curve effects 2. sales volume peaks and market saturation is reached 3. increase in competitors entering the market 4. prices tend to drop due to the proliferation of competing products 5. brand differentiation and feature diversification is emphasized to maintain or increase market share 6.