The product life cycle is very important because there are many different products constantly entering and leaving the market.  The life cycle is needed to determine or estimate how successful a product will be.  Companies should evaluate the product life cycle to determine what changes and innovations are needed to keep the product growing.
Every product begins in the introduction stage.  If multiple companies begin purchasing the product to sell to their consumers then competition has now been created.  Sales should be steadily increasing and the price strategically set low to attract customers.  Once competition is present, the product begins to grow.  Growth and innovation should be constant in order to be the most profitable.  The job of the retailers during the growth stage is to make sure consumers do not buy from competitors.  The price must remain reasonable so that customers are not lost to competitors.
Once products have matured, it is important    to add new features to hold consumers interests.  In this stage, sales should have matured to the highest possible point and eventually lead to the decline.  The decline is caused by change in consumer demands and the development of new and better products.  The most important question during the decline is whether or not the product should be kept of slowly taken off the market.  The product life cycle is valuable because of the constant changes of the products in the market.

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