What do you think is the most important stage in a product’s life cycle?
The product life cycle (2021)
Now that you have covered the basics of the product life cycle, complete the following exercise.
Instructions: Determining the most important stage in the cycle
- Reflect on what you think is the most important stage in this cycle.
- Write your answer in the discussion below, and explain why you think your chosen PLC stage is the most important.
- Try to find a real-world example that you can use in answering this. It might be an example from your professional experience or one you’ve found elsewhere.
- Reflect on at least one of comments from random learners below. Do you agree with their response? How do their experiences differ from yours?
Molly Campbell
What comes to mind as the most important stage for me is the decline stage. With the ever changing tech landscape, I feel that apps/websites etc have such a difficult task of staying relevant. Social media apps are what I thought of in this situation. Apps/sites such as Facebook or Instagram are now competing with SnapChat and TikTok, so both have updated their functions to include more video and filters, etc to be relevant in that market. They are trying extremely hard to prevent their decline and become obsolete. I do agree with others that development is very important as well, and the example I gave may have to go back to the development stage in a sense to redesign and update things to meet consumer demands.
Christina Bek Larsen
As it is a cycle, I find it very difficult to point to one stage as the most important one. One stage doesn’t exist without the previous one, I suppose. I think each stage requires something specific from the PM. With competition and evolving needs in mind, I am thinking about the growth stage as being a tricky stage. To keep relevant and ensure your rpoduct is growing seems like a challenge.
Ibukun Oni
I think the “Development stage” is the most important phase because if the right product is not developed to meet the needs of customers, then efforts during the other stages become futile.
I recall developing a digital product, the first assignment of the project team was to ensure that the product met the needs of our customers.
Chibuzo Anazodo
I think the Development stage is the most important because that is where you figure out what fits your consumers needs as well as trends in your industry to adapt or avoid to build a product that will thrive through all stages and still remain relevant after Maturity.
Peter Scheinsohn
I would say introduction, is most important step in the product life cycle. Even, if product was properly developed, but not good enough introduced and advertised or not clear enough introduced for which group it is, it will significantly influence its further growth. However, i also agree that proper development stage and growth stage are also very important, but good start (“introduction”) is vital in my humble opinion.
It’s a very tricky one in the sense that all stages are vital for a Product to be successful in the market.
However, personally, the “development stage” stood out for me. You won’t get to another stage in the Product life cycle without first developing a Product.
For example, X(formerly twitter) was already a Product before new features was introduced to competite effectively with other social media apps.
The introduction stage of the Product Life Cycle (PLC) is arguably the most crucial because it lays the foundation for a product’s entire lifecycle. This stage involves heavy investment in research, development, and marketing to introduce the product to consumers and establish a market presence. A prime example is the launch of Apple’s iPhone in 2007, which revolutionized the smartphone industry through effective marketing and innovative features. While other stages, like maturity, are important for sustaining market share and profitability, without a successful introduction stage, a product may not progress through the PLC.
I honestly feel the Growth Stage is the most important stage of a product life cycle because at this stage, old features can be removed and new features can be implemented. For instance, Facebook removed some old algorithms affecting their security checks and implemented new and stronger algorithms. They also added new features in their photos and video editing apps to meet up with trending social media styles. They keep growing.
In my own perspective, I think the growth period is more essential.
Wow! Every stages of the product’s life cycle are very important, however I’ll say that the introduction stage is the most important because this is the marketing and announcements stage if not properly done, it could delay nor bring about low turnout.
For example Lush hair is competing rigorously with expressions hair and what gave lush that lead is the robost marketing and introduction
For me I will say the development stage is the most important. If you get it right first time at the introduction stage and growth stage will be easy. sales of the product or finding its place in the market is dependent on the development stage. If the first stage of the product is done well it will take a long while before it gets to the decline point.
Decline Stage is the most important products life cycle. This is because at decline stage, the product manager must come up with a way to remain relevant in the market, competition in the market is increasing at a fast rate, the product manager has to be innovative for a particular product to still in the market.
Example is a case of cd and dvd. DVDs are capable of storing more data than the CDs thereby rendering cds to be in a decline stage
All stages are important in a product’s life cycle but I would say maturity stage is the most important because the maturity stage of the product life cycle is the most profitable stage, when products reach their peak sales and profits.
I believe that the Development stage is the most important stage in a Product’s lifecycle. The development stage sets the tone for the other stages in that, in this stage, based on your research, you get to identify a problem, come up with a solution, research and build a customer base that actually needs your solution and based on the information from the research, build the right product, the right way. Without these, no product will make it past the introduction stage and one will end up wasting time and resources building something nobody wants.
Also, I believe the Maturity stage come next after the development stage, because in this stage, the PM can monitor the progress of the product in the market especially with competitors involved, and use the data to make informed decisions that can keep the product in the market and out of the decline stage.
It’s a very tricky one in the sense that all stages are vital for a Product to be successful in the market.
However, personally, the “development stage” stood out for me. You won’t get to another stage in the Product life cycle without first developing a Product.
For example, X(formerly twitter) was already a Product before new features was introduced to competite effectively with other social media apps.
I totally agree with this in the sense that you must have done your market research, consumer wants and market needs, then proceeds to develop a Product that address all these needs.
Other stages of the PLC comes in when there’s a Product.
For me I think the Decline Stage is the most important products life cycle. This is because at this stage, the product manager has to think of way to remain relevant in the market. This is because the competition in the market is getting tough and for a product to remain relevant, the product manager has to be innovative. A typical example is the advent of Android Phones that sent the popular Nokia brand out of the Market. A lot of companies were switching to Android OS for their Phones but Nokia didn’t do that at the time and they got punished for that. So I think to remain in business, a product manager has to be sensitive when the product is at the decline stage and device means of staying relevant in the market.