Product Development: Product Life Cycle In Marketing

Product development is the procedure of planning, designing, making and show casing new products or services to customers. It can be defined as the creation of products with new or diverse attributes that offer new or extra advantages to the client. It may include modification of an existing object or the creation of a totally new product in order to satisfy a new customer by fulfilling their wants and desires. A product can be defined as something produced by a person or it can be a result of a demonstration or a procedure. It can be characterized as a good, item, idea, object or service produced by labor or by a process in order to fulfil a need or a want. It is called a merchandise in retail however while manufacturing, …show more content…
A new product goes through four different stages in order to progress, known as, introduction, growth, maturity and decline. The sequence of these stages is known as product life cycle which is a fundamental concept in marketing as it describes the stages a product is thought to go through from start to completion however not all products are able to reach the final stage. In the introduction stage, the firm researches, develops and finally launches the product. This might be the most expensive stage for the company. The market is small and sales are low. Advertising costs are high in order to rapidly create awareness of the product and increase its market share. The company’s’ main goal during this stage is to establish a market for the product and create awareness for it. In the growth stage the firm is experiencing increased sales and profits since the customers are now more aware of the product and its advantages. The company benefits from economies of scale in production and the profit margins increase, thus allowing companies to invest more money to promote the product as much as possible in order to maximize its growth rate. If the demand for a product is high then the price kept for it will also increase, while on the other hand price may also be reduced to attract customers for buying it. Product quality is improved, and advertising & promotional activities increase for expanding the market and to build brand preference. Maturity stage is the period when sales for the product are nearly highest but the growth rate is slowing down because of more competition in the market hence resulting in lower prices and reduced market share. Advertising and promotional expenditure will also reduce since brand awareness is strong. Companies seek to modify their products and enhance