Understanding Product Life Cycles

With a degree in marketing and business administration and management from the University of Mary, Justin Steinle has gained over two decades of experience working with effective forms of marketing and business development within a range of industries. Justin Steinle has a strong understanding of holistic marketing techniques including the way product demand life cycles work.

Products do not exist in a vacuum. They may address a specific need for a specific population, and that need can rise and fall depending on many different factors. Every product has a life cycle, which generally includes introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

In the introduction stage, people may not yet realize that they need and want a given product. As awareness about the product grows, more and more people see the need and the growth cycle begins. In the mature phase, the product has its place in the market, but more competitors may be arriving, leading to the need for differentiation. As demand drops due to competition or other factors such as newer technologies or social changes, the product enters its decline.

Effective marketing techniques must have an accurate understanding of the market a potential product is entering. Additionally, the marketing approach needs to take into account what is happening with that product in terms of competition and other factors that may affect demand for the product.