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INTERVIEW QUESTION:

What are the 4 Stages of Product Life Cycle (PLC)?

Posted by Adrian M.

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ANSWER

As a product manager, you want to have the right expectations when managing the lifecycle of a product. There are many questions which should be considered at the outset: Will the product most likely be a hit from day one? Will there be any challenges that I should expect along the way? Will the product live forever?

In order to develop the right expectations one needs to know the stages of a product's life cycle.

The 4 stages of Product Life Cycle (or PLC) are:

Introduction Stage

Growth Stage

Maturity Stage

Decline Stage

Each phase of the product life cycle is generally marked by specific characteristics:

	Introduction	Growth	Maturity	Decline
Sales	Low	Increasing	Peak	Decreasing
Customer Acquisition Cost	High	Decreasing	Lowest	Increasing
Profitability	Loses	Increasing	Highest	Decreasing
Customer Base	Few	Increasing	Mass Market	Decreasing
Competitors	None or Few	More	Most	Decreasing

Being aware of the 4 stages of product life cycle and their distinctive characteristics help the product managers and business owners to not only have realistic expectations but to also anticipate changes in the market landscape and, if possible, introduce innovation and product changes in order to lengthen the duration of the maturity stage.

For example, the product would be enhanced and re-introduced as a 2.0 version to the same customer base. The product could be re-purposed and marketed for a new use or a new industry. The product could be marketed to a new set of customers such as a new state, or a new country.

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Do your homework prior to the business analysis interview!

Having an idea of the type of questions you might be asked during a business analyst interview will not only give you confidence but it will also help you to formulate your thoughts and to be better prepared to answer the interview questions you might get during the interview for a business analyst position. Of course, just memorizing a list of business analyst interview questions will not make you a great business analyst but it might just help you get that next job.