Promotion and the Product Life Cycle

In essence, although most of the company’s products have been successful in the market, some of its products have failed. For instance, in 2012, the company launched the Wii U, which was the firm’s first console capable of supporting high-definition graphics. Although the device was packaged with several video games and online connectivity, it failed in the market resulting in the company discontinuing its production. Ideally, the company went on to launch the Nintendo Switch, which is a stand-alone handheld device unlike the Wii U (ValueWalk, 2017). According to Kotler & Keller (2016), a product life cycle in the market comprise of four stages – introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. While the market prices for Xbox One and PS4 were $499 and $399 respectively, the Nintendo Switch was to be launched at a price of $300 (Ward, 2016).

The Growth Stage According to Kotler & Keller (2016), the growth stage ensues after the product survives the introduction stage and its presence in the market becomes noticed. At this phase, the company decides if its goals are to increase profitability or increase the market share. For this reason, some of the most important aspects to consider are competition and promotion. Product promotion at this stage is important to increase product awareness in the market; hence, resulting in increased sales. By the end of July 2018, the sales of Nintendo Switch were approaching 20 million. According to Summers (2018), during the last quarter, the sales of Nintendo Switch amounted to 1. 88 million, a figure that brought the total sales to 19. 67 million. Although the quarterly figure is impressive, it was a decline in sales as compared to the sales in the last two quarters, which had sales of 2.