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.
1. Reflect on what you think is the most important stage in this cycle.
The growth stage
2. Write your answer in the discussion below, and explain why you think your chosen PLC stage is the most important.
A product that has managed to gain recognition in the market and has already set in as a good competition with other brands and even gaining customers and making sales must be a good product so this is the stage where customers are either retained or lost. If this growth stage is not managed properly there would be no maturity stage which could lead to the death of the product.
Anything that was done aand took a product from introduction to growth stage should be maintained as this is the point where the death or longeivity of a product is determined.
3. 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.
BONUX Detergent; a subsidiary of ARIEL. The product was introduced in the market and it made waves and enough publicity to keep the product in the market but the growth stage was where I think the product’s life was brought to an end because there was no reason enough as to why people should stick to BONUX Detergent as it was the same price with ARIEL, it didn’t lather as much as ARIEL did so the growth stage was not managed well.
EX 2. PEAK milk and THREE CROWNS milk. THREE CROWNS soared on the wings of PEAK milk and so got the necessary publicity to make it a good and easy product to sell. How they remained in business despite having the same quality with PEAK milk; because it’s price was lower than the PEAK, it survived the stage growth and has and is still in the maturity stage for many years now.
4. Reflect on at least one of comments from random learners below. Do you agree with their response? How do their experiences differ from yours?
I agree with Molly Campbell.
I think the Development stage is the most important stage, as it is the stage where that defines the product value and goal which is to meet customer needs and proffer solutions. if a product isn’t initially developed to meet consumer needs it wouldn’t progress let alone survive the remaining stages.
Molly makes a compelling argument for the decline stage being the most important. In today’s fast-paced tech environment, staying relevant is crucial. Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram continuously evolve to fend off obsolescence, adding features like video and filters to compete with newer platforms like Snapchat and TikTok. This highlights the importance of adapting during the decline stage to extend the product’s lifespan. However, I’d argue that the introduction stage is equally critical. It sets the foundation for the product’s success by establishing its market presence and initial consumer base. For instance, the launch of a groundbreaking smartphone can shape consumer expectations and market dynamics for years to come, making it a pivotal stage in the product life cycle.
I think the maturity stage is very crucial in the sense that sales begins to slow down. That is where you need not to be by iterating the developed process. The world is evolving fast, so you need to evolve in that same pace and manner. Using qualitative and quantitative analysis would keep the product in check and help you make informed decisions
The most important stage is the maturity stage because this is where a product market becomes saturated, competition becomes intense and whatever action taken during this stage determines how long the product remains in market before falling into decline.
Looking at Apple iPhone which is currently in it’s maturity stage ,it market became saturated with options for consumers to choose from. Apple faced plenty competition from Android smartphones. Apple put a lot of emphasis on improving it’s products to remain in the market.Apple carried on with marketing campaigns and also expanded it’s market to solidly it’s position.
Vine: a video sharing app that never really entered the maturity stage because of the intense competition from Snapchat , Instagram e.t.c
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.
The most important stage of the product life cycle is the Product Development Stage (PDS). This is where thorough research and findings about the problem to be solved, how to solve it, who needs the solution, where they are, how many they are, etc, are properly articulated and answered. If the right product is not developed to meet the right need, no amount of sugarcoating during the introduction stage will make the product successful because people will eventually test the product and discover it’s an empty vessel, continues patronage will be denied, and as such, there will neither be other stages as the product will take a still birth. I have realized that the right product that solves that exact need requires little or no marketing. The first users become loyal consumers and marketers through referrals and recommendations. The development stage is the foundation of every product and if the foundation be faulty what do we expect of the body. Have you ever watched an overhyped movie that turns out not to make sense? Such is an example of excellent introduction but zero content and when you watch such movies with so much curiosity only to find it uninteresting you get disappointed.
For example, one of the most successful products of the world is coca-cola, the brand focused so much on the development stage with the coca cola formular as one of the one of the most guarded secrets of the world. This formular ensured that a unique tasty and refreshing drink was birthed and whoever tasted this product became addicted to it. Coca-cola required no marketing, no brand promotion, adverts etc but became one of the most popular brands of the world, travelling to almost all parts of the earth and maintained dominance for centuries. Notice that the coca-cola has never bothered to change their formula or taste despite several years, they have maintained their taste. This is arrogant confidence can only come from a product with solid development as if to say that we have done it complete, there is nothing to modify again.
While I know that it’s almost impossible to make a product and not modify it, this should be the thinking of all product managers, to present a complete product. This implies that the most focus should be on the development stage as rest stages will depend on the outcome of this very stage.
I think the development stage is the most important, this stage is so important that any mistake in this stage will be the doom of the product.
For me, I think all the five stages are very important but the most important is the introduction stage.
I once worked in a newly opened restaurant where I worked as the manager and other roles, we launched out well but alongside my boss was interested in adding other business which was not added during the development of the business. The business lasted for new months though it was a fantastic business idea but we got it wrong at the introduction stage.
I’d say the development stage is the most important stage, it’s where you know the customers, their behaviors to optimize the best features, Total obtainable market, if done right by launching an MVP first to get more knowledge of user needs. It’s the most critical stage