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Draft and label a product life cycle - Leaving Cert Business - Question A - 2006
Question A
Draft and label a product life cycle. Describe one characteristic of each stage of the product life cycle with reference to a product of your choice.
Worked Solution & Example Answer:Draft and label a product life cycle - Leaving Cert Business - Question A - 2006
Step 1
Draft and label a product life cycle.
Answer
To illustrate the product life cycle, we will draft a simple graph showing the stages of the cycle over time. The diagram should consist of five key stages: Introduction, Growth, Maturity, Saturation, and Decline.
In the graph, the x-axis represents time, while the y-axis reflects sales. Each stage can be illustrated as follows:
- Introduction: Initial phase where the product is launched, leading to slow sales growth due to high promotional costs.
- Growth: Sales begin to rise, and production investments increase to meet demand.
- Maturity: Sales peak and then start to decline, requiring promotional efforts to maintain market presence.
- Saturation: Sales growth slows as the market becomes saturated, requiring aggressive marketing strategies.
- Decline: Sales decrease, and companies may consider product withdrawal or revamping.
Make sure to label each stage on the graph accordingly.
Step 2
Describe one characteristic of each stage of the product life cycle with reference to a product of your choice.
Answer
Choosing the iPhone as our product, we can describe its characteristics across the product life cycle stages:
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Introduction: The initial iPhone faced heavy expenditures on advertising, with Apple investing significantly in promoting its unique features, leading to high costs without immediate profits.
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Growth: As demand increased, Apple ramped up production capacity. Key features, such as larger screens or enhanced functionalities, were regularly introduced, appealing to a growing customer base.
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Maturity: The iPhone reached maturity with saturated markets; Apple focused on maintaining its market share through loyalty programs and continuous upgrades with features like the app store to keep consumers engaged.
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Saturation: Competition intensified as other smartphone brands entered the market, prompting Apple to invest heavily in advertising strategies to differentiate its products from others, ensuring brand loyalty.
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Decline: When certain models reached the decline stage, Apple considered measures such as launching new models or phasing out older ones, adapting to market trends without incurring excessive promotional costs for outdated models.