Product life cycle is the process that products go through from when they are first introduced into the market until they are eventually removed from the market. The length of a product’s life cycle depends on many factors, such as technological obsolescence, changes in consumer tastes, and competition from other products.
The four main stages of a product’s life cycle are: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.
During the introductory stage, a product is new to the market and sales are low as consumers try to understand what the product is and whether it meets their needs. As more people learn about the product and its benefits, sales begin to increase during the growth stage. Eventually, though, sales will level off as most potential customers have already purchased the product (this is known as saturation), and this marks the beginning of the maturity stage. In time, even fewer people will want to buy the product because it is outdated or replaced by newer versions (decline stage). At this point companies usually stop making and marketing the product altogether.
While there is no set timeframe for how long each stage lasts, typically a product will spend several years in each stage before moving on to the next one. For example, a smartphone might stay in its introductory phase for 6-12 months before seeing significant growth; during its peak it might remain popular for 2-3 years; then it would enter into decline after that point