I will be talking to you about the life cycle of your products this includes goods, services or both. Did you know Nokia is back? Yes they are back, so let us see what they will be dishing out to us. Today, I am going to look at every stage of a product then I will be giving you ways to bounce back after your product has reached its final stage. Here they are:

The Introduction Stage
This is the stage whereby you have seen an opportunity in the market and you are ready to introduce your product to your target market. At this stage, the demand for your products will be low, as such, the income will also low. This stage could be seen as the stage whereby you penetrate your target market. Strategies I will recommend during this stage are the rapid penetration strategy for all products except technological products and the rapid skimming strategy for the technological products.

The rapid penetration strategy implies that the promotion for your product will be high, however, the prices for your products will low. This way you will attract a percentage of the market. I have excluded technological products from using this strategy and recommended the rapid skimming strategy because these products have a short life span and they have invested a lot of money into the product as such they need to make their money back with profit before their product's life get terminated. The rapid skimming strategy implies that you place the prices high and you also promote your products highly as well.

Growth Stage
This is the stage whereby the demand for the products start to increase. The market is now familiar with the products, as such, have started patronizing your products. The aim of this product life cycle stage will be to sustain growth. Strategies used during this stage will be the differentiation of product, thus, you will improve the quality of your product to attract more customers. You will also use the rapid penetration strategy for all other products while the rapid skimming strategy should be still be used for the technological products.

Maturity Stage
This is the stage whereby you have acquired the amount of customers you want to acquire. It is called the maturity stage, as such you now have matured products, Well, this stage is technical cause you do want this products to last long, in other words make this stage last long. During this stage the prices of technological products can be dropped as new products will have entered the market and will be competing for their market share.

As for other products, make sure you maintain the quality of your products as it plays a good role in keeping your customers. Prices can also be slightly increased during this stage, you noticed I used the word slightly because if the price increment is too much you will discourage your customers. Promotion should also be reduced. Maintain or even improve the quality of your products, it will keep customers coming back for more.

The demand for your products can still increase slightly during this stage, however, you should not aim for that. You should aim at keeping your present customers happy. The growth should come on its own, as you will be contending with competitors more swiftly for the market share.

Decline Stage
This is the stage whereby the demand for your products start to drop. It happens to all products, however, you can make the maturity stage last long. During this stage, prices should be dropped slightly with the hope of making this stage last long. However, the technological product will have to drop prices hugely, as they will have covered their costs and made profit during the introduction and the growth stages. They can drop prices as that product leaves the market and then focus on their new product. This stage can also be seen as the exit stage. The end!

No, its not the end, products can enter the introduction stage again and go through the production cycle again. Which brings us back to Nokia, Nokia was the market leader but lost its market share to Blackberry and then to Samsung and the owners eventually sold it to Microsoft. Now it has been bought back by the previous owners. Let us see what they have in stock for us. They are going to make products that will go through all the stages and keep making products, that is the way to stay competitive in their market. With other products, the same products can be re-introduced to the market again with a better pack and an improved quality. You will just have to go through all the stages of production.