While the product life cycle model is a very helpful tool for helping to understand current and potential market conditions, in order to develop appropriate marketing and competitive strategies, there are some limitations and concerns with the usage of the PLC.Firstly, not all new products will be successful. That means that for many new product

In order to assess where a product is on the PLC curve, a multiple of factors can be considered, including:Sales to date, graph accordingly, to visually demonstrate any turning points from introduction to growth, and so on,The number of competitors entering/leaving the marketplace (competitors enter in growth and leave in decline),The number of retailers and

There is a strong relationship between the product adoption process and the product life cycle. Both consider new to the world products – the product adoption process considers the “stage” that the consumer is in relative to the product – whereas the product life cycle model will track sales (and indicate distinct market conditions), depending

Underpinning the pattern of sales in the product life cycle is how consumers adopt new products. Not all new products are successful, indeed, most new products will fail. For example, even Apple has its fair share of failed products.As we know, the product life cycle moves through four distinct phases of introduction, growth, maturity and

The PLC model can be utilized for portfolio analysis Do we have an appropriate balance of existing products in a mature market, and are we investing in future new product opportunities by entering products into introduction and growth stage markets? Again, this is conceptually similar to the underlying principle of the Boston Consulting Group matrix

A more limited competitor setIt is likely, in the introduction phase of the product life cycle, that there are limited numbers of competitors. At this stage of the PLC, the level of sales and profits in the market are quite small – which is unlikely to attract a large number of new entrants.While having a

Key marketing challenges in the introduction phaseOne of the key marketing challenges in the introduction phase of the product life cycle (PLC) is to clearly communicate the advantages and benefits of the new product offering, relative to existing products in the marketplace. This requires a significant and targeted communications program – typically targeting consumer innovators.As