Marketing basics - Product Life Cycle (PLC)

A conventional Product Life Cycle (PLC)

A Product Life Cycle (PLC) is a graphical representation of the phases that a product will generally go through (a proven concept) throughout their life span in the market. It can be used to analyza Products and Industry Maturity Stages.

Each stage of the PLC has a conventionally conforming similar characteristics as to the consumer behaviour,  recommended marketing strategies through marketing mix, level of competitions etc. It is useful for organizations to understand where their product stands, and hence tailor a suitable effective strategy for the products. Tha market is dynamic, thus understanding the PLC will allow marketers to develop suitable strategies for each stage the products is in to good effect.

Please also note that not all products conform to the shape of the PLC shown above. PLC comes in various shapes and sizes, therefore it is vital to understand how a particular product conform to their PLC first before deciding the next step in strategy development. Any form of variables can drastically affect PLC.