List the various stages of the product life cycle and describe the characteristics of each stage

What will be an ideal response?

a. Introduction stage – the growth rate and the size of the market are low. At this stage there is normally one company, the pioneer in that category.
b. Growth stage – there is rapid sales growth rate in the early stages which begins to flatten out in the late stages. The number of competitors increases, the focus is on sales, and communications emphasize competitive advantage.
c. Maturity stage – where sales begin to flatten and there is competitive intensity for market share, access to distribution, large amounts of money spent on trade and consumer promotion, and competitive pricing.
d. Decline stage – where sales decline, where marginal competitors drop out of the market, and the firm must decide whether to continue investing in the category, harvest, or withdraw from the market.