1. Product life cycle
By applying a range of marketing analysis techniques a clearer identification of
the key features emerge.
With a clearer understanding of their customers, competitors and external
factors, a business is able to market more effectively.

2. Learning Objectives
• Product life cycle: the 4 phases of the
life cycle; extension strategies
• Product life cycle & cash flow

4. Introduction
• When a new product is
introduced to a market,
customers may have little
awareness. Consequently
the appropriate type of
promotion is perhaps
informative advertising,
rather than persuasive to
help it get out of the
introduction stage and
into the next.

5. Growth
• The second stage is
growth. During this
period more of the
market is finding
out about the
product and it may
be appropriate to
change advertising
and even price
strategy.

6. Maturity
• The next stage is maturity.
The Maturity Stage is the
time when most profit is
earned and in this stage
competition is often
intensive as companies
fight to maintain market
share. Its here that both
marketing decisions
become key, it has to be
monitored carefully, since
significant moves are
highly likely to be reacted
to by competitors.

7. Decline
• The final stage is decline.
Now the market is
contracting in size,
reducing the amount of
profit that can be shared
amongst competitors. At
this stage it’s still
possible to be profitable,
but careful promotional,
positioning and pricing
decisions must be made.

8. Task
• Sketch the Product Life Cycle into your
books and label each section
• Using p234 and 235
• Summarise each section of the Product
Life Cycle
• You MUST remove the waffle

9. Growth
Decline
Maturity
Introduction
The product is test and market
research carried out so there is
no sales at this point, so the
costs are high. As the product is
new people do not know about it
so advertising costs are high.

10. Place the product at the point it
appears in its lifecycle

11. They do not always look the same.
It changes depending on the life style of the product
Sales
Time

12. Sales
Time

13. Sales
Time

14. Sales
Time

15. What has happened here?
Sales
Time

16. What would you do to
extend the lifecycle of
your product?

17. Product Life Cycle – BMW 3
Series
Sales
Why do BMW
keep releasing
another 3
series?
1975-82 1982-1990 1990-1998 1998-2006 2006 -> Slide 17

18. Encourage that the
Find a new use product is used on
for the product more occasions
Adapt the
product
Extending
the life cycle
Change the
appearance,
Develop a wider format or
product range packaging
Reduce the price

19. Cadbury Dairy Milk
• Q1,2,3 & 6
• Pg 239

20. EXTENSION QUESTIONS
• Apple’s Cash Machine
• Cadburys Crème Eggs
• Sony v Nintendo
• Crocs – Fashion victims