The Product Life Cycle (PLC) describes the stages a new product idea goes through from beginning to end. The PLC is divided into five major stages:

... The Product Life Cycle (PLC) describes the stages a new product idea goes through from beginning to end. The PLC is divided into five major stages: Product Development Market Introduction Market Growth Market Maturity Sales Decline Total sales of the product, by all companies in the industry, vary in each of the five stages. They move from zero in the product development stage, very low in the market introduction stage, to high at market maturity and then back to low in the sales decline stage. More importantly, the profit picture changes, too. These general relationships can be see in the graph below. Product Life Cycle Stages A particular firm's marketing mix usually must change during the PLC. Customers' attitudes and needs may change over the PLC. The product may be aimed at entirely different targets at different stages. For example, an automobile is a product that provides personal transportation, but our choice of vehicle

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