The Miracle of Life: Development and Management Throughout a Product Life Cycle

Are you a product manager overwhelmed by the many tactical decisions required each day? Do you wonder if your company is executing its workflow at peak efficiency? Do you dread the day you wake up and realize your product has peaked and is no longer competitive? 

If so then you need to dive into the world of understanding the product life cycle and how it affects your decisions. Don’t worry if you don’t know much about the product life stages, it can be a daunting topic but we’ve got you covered. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about the four stages of the product life cycle.

1. Introduction to the Product

Product development can take an agonizingly long time as companies are spending a lot of money on research and development without seeing a return on that investment yet. In a lean product life cycle, the business’s aim is to decrease the amount of time between developing the product, introducing it to the market, and then selling it. 

At this stage, your company will need to make several key decisions. You will need to decide the best distribution channel to get your product to your consumer. Additionally, pricing and promotion are key business decisions that need to be made at this stage of product management.

While research and development aren’t the sexy phases in your product life cycle stages, they are still incredibly important. If you skip the vital steps of market research and competitor analysis, you risk missing the mark with your product launch. 

Knowing this information, in the beginning, will set you up for success in the later stages of the cycle. With a successful introduction phase, your product will naturally move into the growth phase and will take off with consumers. 

2. Take-off and Growth of the Product

When a product is in the growth phase, lean management will need to make important decisions regarding the expansion of their manufacturing. Some companies make the mistake of growing too fast without an established customer base and a viable product line. 

If a company takes off too fast, they run the risk of peaking too soon within the product life cycle stages. This could be disastrous for a small business. Instead, grow steadily and implement smart lean manufacturing principles so your business can mature with the markets. 

Growing your business is essential, however, you don’t want to tackle this phase too quickly or you risk overextending yourself. Likewise, you don’t want to miss any opportunities that come your way, so making wise decisions here is key. 

Additionally, you want to be aware that regardless of your current situation the next two phases are coming. So, prepare yourself to be successful when you arrive there. Build your brand awareness, efficient product delivery methods, and impeccable customer service now. 

This will prepare you for ultimate success in the final two stages. 

3. Maturity Within the Market

During this stage, management will need to ensure they increase their efficiency to stay competitive within the market as prices will drop during maturation. One example of lean management within a mature market includes implementing Just-In-Time product delivery. 

This method gives you a seamless flow in production. You don’t make more of the product than you can sell and you aren’t storing more manufacturing pieces than you need. Everything has a consistent flow and each item arrives where it needs to be just at the right time. 

You can’t afford to be inefficient in any part of the product delivery timeline. When managed correctly, this can be the most profitable phase in the product cycle. Your expenses per product delivered will be down so you can afford to slash prices while still showing a profit. 

Your marketing can be more focused during this stage, so your price per new customer should be down as well. From manufacturing to marketing to delivery your main goal at this stage is to decrease costs and increase productivity to maximize your sales potential and profits. 

4. Saturation and Decline

Saturation of the market doesn’t have to be the end of a product.  And decline doesn’t need to be the beginning of the end for your product, a good product can be recycled and reintroduced with new features. 

Competition is a good thing and lends to businesses analyzing their operations and processes. With lean product management, a company can still be competitive within a saturated market as it can decrease inefficiencies while still increasing profit.

This is the stage where brand marketing and customer service are vital to staying competitive. Pricing has stabilized at this point and so consumers will not be making their purchasing decision based on price or availability. Rather you will need to show your consumers why they should choose you over the competition with brand awareness and great customer service after the sale. 

Stay Competitive With the Product Life Cycle Theory

As you can see you can stay competitive within your market at all stages of the product life cycle. Just as a flower blooms new each spring, so too can you track the stages of your product development. A great PM will understand the market and its position within the cycle. 

By understanding the product life cycle stages you can keep your company competitive by staying lean and making sound growth decisions. Improving your workflow and decreasing inefficiency is key in every stage of development. Recognizing where your product is in the cycle will guide your decision making and success. 

For more great information on this and other topics, check out the rest of our blog.