THE CHALLENGE OF DEVELOPING A PRODUCT IN SUCH A CHANGING WORLD

We are sure that all of you have heard about what a product life cycle is, the creation of its essence and functionality that will impact the market, but, are we clear on the concept? Let’s refresh the mind for a moment knowing that the life cycle of a product is the process that a commercial item goes through from its conception to its exit from the market. The cycle determines the 4 stages of a product: Introduction, growth, maturity and decline.

An essential aspect when creating a product is innovation, which is key to the survival of products in today’s world, which moves so fast that sometimes we don’t even notice it.

However, why do products have cycles? What is the ideal methodology to start the development process? Where to start? It is important to bear in mind that all products have life cycles, not necessarily the technological ones, but rather everything that passes through the hands of the consumer has its cycles.

All of the above questions can overwhelm you a bit, but before telling you what the phases of the product life cycle are, it is essential that you take into account that…

A product can lose vitality in the market because:

Lack of investment in new functionalities or features.
Loss of quality in relation to a new release by the competition.
Restrictions to a single type of offer.
Lack of good narrative for the product.

Knowing this, now we can get into the matter about

What are the phases of the life cycle of a product?

Introduction: In order to know that the product meets the basic needs of the consumer, it is necessary to have an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) which is basically the simple version of the product that can solve the problems of the users. Those responsible for carrying out the technical execution of the MVP collect feedback from a group of users to define the version that will be launched on the market. The introduction phase is the right time to define the KPIS (Key Performance Indicators) of the product throughout its life cycle.

Growth: The landing of the product to this stage indicates that it has good perennial potential. Here you can see a considerable increase in sales and a greater number of channels to obtain customers. At the same time, the bursting progression of the new figure in the market causes many attentive glances.

Maturity: Reaching to this point it is important to expose the product to more intense tests. Entrepreneurs usually overthink in this phase, since the market already knows their product well and is adapting to its use. Paying attention to the new demands that have arisen is essential, so that the product proves its ability to fulfill more than one function.

Decline: There is no doubt that this is the most dreaded moment for any product-focused company. No matter how many attempts you make to postpone it, at some point it will become inevitable. Factors such as changes in consumer interest and the massive progression of one of the competitors, can cause the decline of the products.

Conclusion:

We know that it can be a bit scary, starting a product from scratch, and that it implies many things, but with the right team you will be able to define tasks and the most productive work scheme for you and the product you want to develop.

Remember to take into account the need to do analysis of the competition from time to time. Learning what they are doing right and wrong is a great resource for directing the initiatives of a company in its products.

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Product development is an intense process that involves specialized technical staff, methodology, extensive processes and especially many iterations, even after the product is finished, however, there may be errors that delay the release of the product and without a dedicated team of hardware developers, firmware, casing, testers, designers and others, it is difficult to imagine a successful result. This can easily overwhelm any company.