What is product life cycle? What are the four stages of the product life cycle?

A product life cycle consists of four stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

Introduction: Once a product is developed, the first step is its introduction into the market

Marketing and promotional activities are undertaken, so that the product reaches the target customers.

Growth: Customers are using the product and are buying into marketing. Sales and profits are growing, and the competition is looking to interrupt success.

Marketing in this stage is aimed at increasing the product's market share.

Maturity: When sales begin to max out you’re entering the maturity stage. Competition is now the highest.

You may have to change product price or add new features to stay in the market

Decline: If your product isn’t a market favorite, you’ll start to experience the decline stage.

In the decline phase, product sales drops significantly, and customer behavior changes, as there is less demand for the product