It's Importance in Marketing

In marketing, the term "product cycle" has immense importance. Let us see what it actually means and the importance of it.

Definition: Product Cycle can be defined to be the different stages, a product passes through the life of it. These stages are:

Birth Stage: In this stage a product is born. It is introduced in the market. A lot of marketing & advertising activities are needed in this stage. It is needed so that the consumer becomes aware of the product.

Growth Stage: In this stage the product starts to grow after its introduction in the market.

Saturation Stage: In this stage, the product reaches the peak. The sales volume is maximum at this stage.

Decline Stage: A product becomes to decline here. New competitors emerge & the need for the product gradually decreases.

All these stages form a graph. During the birth stage, a product needs extensive marketing and advertising. This is needed so that the product reaches to the target consumers. Strategies have to be worked out carefully so that the product can beat the competitors and reach out to the consumers. Awareness is the main thing here. If proper awareness can be created during this stage, a product can progress to the next stage.

After the awareness is built, the sales start to increase. The consumers start to buy the product as they become aware of it. The product competes efficiently with the competitors and starts to bring revenue to the company. The dealer, distributor network becomes very active at this stage. The distribution network created at the time of birth of the product becomes fully functional and operational and starts doing their job very efficiently. Both the company and the dealer and distribution partners benefit at this stage.

During the saturation stage, the product attains the peak. It either becomes the market leader or grows to the product's utmost potential as per the support provided to it.

The Decline stage marks the end of the life cycle of a product. The reasons can be:

- Introduction of new products in the market.
- Increase in competition.
- Attrition on part of Dealers and Distributors as they start getting better deals from rival competitor products.
- Failure of the company in general or the company's desire to diversify elsewhere.

Thus in general a Product Cycle is like the life cycle of a product. The Product hence is like a baby. It is born, attains adulthood, completes the objectives and die a natural death at last or becomes feeble.