Product Life Cycle

The course of a product’s sales and profits over its lifetime. It involves five distinct stages: product development, introduction, growth, maturity and decline.

Product development

Produce development begins when the company finds and develops a new-product idea. During product development, sales are zero and the company’s investment costs mount.

Introduction

Introduction is a period of slow sales growth as the product is being introduced in the market, Profits are non-existent in this stage because of the heavy expenses of product introduction.

Growth

Growth is a period of rapid market acceptance and increasing profits.

Maturity

Maturity is a period of slowdown in sales growth because the product has achieved acceptance by most potential buyers. Profits level off or decline because of increased marketing outlays to defend the product against competition.

Decline

Decline is the period when sales fall off and profits drop.