What is product management?

Product management is the organisational function in an organisation that deals with new products. This aspect of management covers the business justification for the product, planning, pricing, and product launch. It also covers product development and product marketing intending to maximize sales revenues. Product management handles all stages of the product lifestyle and will often integrate people, data, processes, and business systems. It not only plans and develops products, but provides information about the product for companies and the supply chain. Product management integrates multiple parts of the company and how the company interacts with the public. This is an important aspect of any company and involves many different departments. Product management presents the case to introduce new products to the company’s business. This management can also be tasked with replacing or removing current products. This involves familiarizing yourself with different metrics. Product management is a vital part of any business to encourage business growth. Not only are they responsible for introducing new products on the market, but also studying product sales and determining what products need to be removed. It is a job that is critical for any business selling products that needs to stay relevant.

ROLE OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT

Product management covers a range of roles and responsibilities. These responsibilities often relate to different departments in the company. Product management connects all of these departments and integrates different aspects of the company into one common goal. They are also key to making sure that company resources are used appropriately when marketing and selling products. This role requires you to be able to study the market and find any gaps in products or new products trending. This information will be used to develop new products that your company can sell. Market research is important when starting a business, and as product management shows, it remains important for any business. When the product is developed, project management works with marketing to make sure that the product is introduced to the market the best way. Product management works to define the product within the current market that helps give marketing the best way to showcase why this product is different. After the product is launched, the product management job still isn’t done. Product management is in charge of tracking sales of various products and determining if products should be removed or replaced. This involves not only looking at sales numbers but studying the market around similar products to determine how the market around that product is changing. Product managers are also in charge of making sure that engineering requirements understand the business objectives set by marketing or sales. This person or team is critical to making sure that different aspects of the company are on the same page about business goals and directives. They make sure that all departments know about product plans.

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCT LIFE-CYCLE

One of the most important aspects of project management is studying the product life-cycle. Product life-cycle is the cycle that all products are expected to go through on the market. Knowing where a product is on the product life-cycle will help determine if the product needs to be removed or improved in some way. Studying the product life-cycle starts with three assumptions. Products have a limited life, products go through distinct stages, and products need different resources at different stages. A successful product management team should be familiar with these assumptions and how different products fit into the life-cycle. Each product goes through four different stages according to this theory. Introducing the product, growth, maturity, and saturation and decline. Product management needs to be able to determine where various products are on the product life-cycle and can decide the future of that product. Resources need to be allocated differently depending on the stage of the life-cycle that the product is currently on. When introducing a product, costs are very high and the company is relying on sales and marketing to introduce the product successfully to create demand. New products cost a lot of money to promote and it may take some time for the product to be successful. When the product enters the growth stage, the product has demand and a place in the market. Customers are trying the product and enjoying it, coming back to it and telling others about it. Competing products may enter the market and cause the price to drop. It is crucial to continue watching the product life-cycle as the product enters the maturity phase. In this phase, the curve hits the product, and sales begin to decline. Competing products may drop out of the market as sales continue to drop over time. When products leave the market, so do the buyers. The final stage is the saturation and decline stage. Here sales and profits diminish and negative growth begins to show. Many of the competing products have left the market because of slowing sales. It becomes more costly to advertise this product. A product management team will be able to properly assess where a product is on the product life-cycle and allocate resources accordingly. Even a brief overview of each stage shows that each stage requires different resources and personnel. By focusing on products and the market, product management can determine when a product is about to enter a new stage and plan. A product management team can also extend stages of the product life-cycle. Something as minor as new packaging can cause more people to buy a product. Sales and price reduction can also go a long way to keep people interested in buying a product. They also study different markets and can determine if a product can be useful in a new market.

SUMMARY

Product management is a crucial part of a company that develops products and studies their place in the product life-cycle. They ensure that all departments of the company are on the same page about company goals. Product management focuses on the product life-cycle and how resources change at different life-cycle stages.