1. Product development:
Product development begins when the company finds and develops a new-product idea. During product development, sales are zero, and the company’s investment costs mount.

2. Introduction stage:
This stage marks the introduction of the product into the market. It may be an entirely new product in the market or old product to the new market. The demand is low as customers do not know much about the product. So, the organization has to invest heavily in advertisement to make the product familiar to the customer. The volume of sales will be low and if proper care is not taken, the chances of product failures become high.

3. Growth:
Once the product passes through the introduction stage, the sales start increasing because of the acceptability of the product by the customer. The sales growth rate is high because of limited or no competition i.e. it follows a positive trend pattern.

4. Maturity (Saturation):
The sales growth reaches a point above which it will not grow. This is due to the market share taken by the competitor’s products. Thus, the sales will be maintained for some period with a good profit.

5. Decline:
The competitors will enter the market with better product features, advanced technology and reduced prices. This is a threat to the existence of the product as the sales start declining. If proper steps like addition of special features, design changes etc. are not incorporated there comes a time when the products are to be taken back from the market.

Table: Characteristics of the phases of PLC

Particulars	Introduction	Growth	Maturity	Decline
1. Product variety	High variety	Increasing standardization	Dominant design feature of product	High standard commodity
2. Volume	Low volume	Increasing volume	High volume	Decreasing volume
3. Industry structure	Small competition	Consolidation	Few large companies	Survivors
4. Form of competition	Product characteristics	Product quality and availability	Price and dependability	Price

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