Product Life Cycle and Consumer Loyalty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Product Life Cycle and Consumer Loyalty - Essay Example There are four basic stages in a product's life cycle; introductory, growth, maturity, and decline. The Pantene Pro-V line, which has been around for many years, is in the mature stage of the product life cycle. As author Allan Reddy notes, the "underlying objective is to capture substantial market share in the introductory stage and harvest profits during maturity stage" (1994, p. 53). There are several ways that a company can develop customer loyalty while seeking to gain profits from a mature product. First, the company can enhance the features of its product so that it doesn't stay static. With Pantene Pro-V, Proctor and Gamble has developed a large number of variations targeting consumers who color their hair, or by focusing product innovation on specific segments of the market along demographic lines. A producer can also lower the price of the mature product since the initial marketing costs have been recovered and competition has likely increased. Further, the company can enha nce its distribution strategies through added incentives and intensifying its efforts in successful segments. Finally, the company can use a promotional emphasis to demonstrate their enhancements and recover market share by distinguishing these developments against the competition.