Product Manager's role at different stages of Product Life-cycle

The time frame, from a product’s introduction to the market; to its exit, is broken down into four stages: Introduction, Growth, Maturity, and Decline.

Product Manager plays an important role, in successfully driving the product through these stages.

Introduction Stage:

In this stage substantial investment is made by the organization in advertising and marketing. As a Product Manager we must help the Marketing team with positioning & pricing of the product, preparing benefit tree and an aligned communication plan. We might also spend some time in training presales team; preparing them for client demos.

After successful launching the product; a gradual rise in its sales curve can be seen.

Growth Stage:

In this stage more and more 'new' customers become aware of the product and try it. 'Satisfied' customers will repurchase it. Organization must focus on process optimization and automation to serve this increasing inflow of customers.

As a Product Manager we must build a mechanism for harnessing customer feedback, training support team, owning and incorporating the GAPs to our Product Road Map.

Maturity Stage:

This is the most profitable stage of Product Lifecycle, as demand is stable and production cost is at its lowest. However, this is also a high risk stage as market competition is fierce and disrupting new technologies erupt during this stage!

As Product Managers we must focus on 'sustaining market share through':

Competition Benchmarking
Consumer behavior analysis
Understand, Evaluate and Respond to Digital Disruption

Decline Stage:

Product Managers must focus on rescuing the Product from the Decline Stage. They may use Ansoff Matrix’s Diversification Strategy & Market Development strategy. They may also leverage the capability layer of their product in building new offerings for new markets.

In case, a declining product is beyond rescue, Product Managers must support with-

Strategizing end-of-life process
Merger & Acquisition
Sunsetting the product

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