Main Takeaways: -What are the stages of the Product Life Cycle? -What are the best examples for each stage? -What are some of the best practices for managing the PLC?

1. Understanding the Product Life Cycle by
American Express Sr PM
www.productschool.com

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5. Product Life Cycle
(with Examples)
Aayush Jain
This presentation is in my personal capacity, and has no relation with my current or previous
employers.

6. About Me
01
PLC Definition
PLC Stages
02
03
PLC Examples
04

7. About Me
aayushjain.com
@AayushJain1

8. Journey
1
2
3
4
University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign
Graduated as a CS Engineer,
with a senior year focus on
product management
First Job
Business Analyst at
Standard & Poor’s, New York
Startup Phase
Hired as the first Product
Manager at a startup in New
York
Current Phase
Lead a team of Product Owners at
American Express
Write weekly at aayushjain.com

9. Product Life Cycle (PLC)
Growth
Introductio
n
Maturity Decline

10. Product Life Cycle (PLC) - Curve
Source

11. Introduction Stage
● Launch product in the market
● Try to get customers
● Need to build a loyal customer base – by
building awareness, offering freemium
versions (CTA) – focus not on profit

12. Introduction Examples
Smart Glasses Online Healthcare
Virtual Reality
(VR) Headsets
Flying Cars

13. Growth Stage
● Occupy mindspace
● Organic growth
● Usage growing everyday (till saturation)
● People like/recommend your
product (till new/better alternative
emerges)

14. Growth Examples
Electric Cars Internet of Things (IoT)
Devices
AirPods Organic Foods

15. Maturity Stage
● Reaches saturation with your target
audience
● Product is well known - Established brand
name
● People are fully aware of the product
● Avoid the marginal utility trap

16. Maturity Examples
TV Cable Connection Fuel Gasoline/Diesel/Petrol Cars
Non-Internet
Kitchen Appliances
Personal Computers (Desktop)

17. Decline Stage
● Declining profits – mismatch with
marketing costs
● Newer products better fit for your
marketing budget
● Better products entering market - Fresh
look, offer better features, lesser price/for
free
● Need to refresh your product (if possible)

18. Decline Examples
CD/DVD Players Landline Phones
Video Cameras Waterfall Model

19. Failed Product Examples
Orkut
Ahead of its time
Google Glass
Lack of a fashion sense
Google+
Lack of focus –
Facebook does one
thing, but does it right
Amazon Fire Phone
Again, lack of focus

20. No One Size Fits All
Look out for change – if
anything changes, what
is your
communication/marketi
ng/feature strategy?
Before you get it right,
you will get it wrong (a
lot)
Don’t expect your
graph to match exactly
with the “theoretical
graph”
Will take time to
build a loyal
customer base

21. No One Size Fits All - Illustration
Source

22. Nokia
Source

23. Apple iPod
Source

24. Let’s Connect!
aayushjain.com
@AayushJain1

25. Thanks!

26. www.productschool.com
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and
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