Reference no: EM132392253

Can you please provide me with guidance to this question:

Identify and explain the stage of the product lifecycle curve (PLC) that best fits the company's products. Use supporting data/research to justify your answer.

The product life cycle has four defined stages including: the introduction stage, growth stage, maturity stage and decline stage. While the meat industry is in the mature stage of the product life cycle curve, Beyond Meat is in the growth stage of the product life cycle (See Table 2). The growth stage is important in establishing a product's position in a market, increasing sales, and improving profits. Beyond Meat shares increased dramatically after its first-quarter results, as growth around the world for plant-based protein alternatives continue to exceeded forecasts ( Rosenbaum 2019). Although 95% of the U.S. population consume meat, only roughly 2% of the population consume plant-based meat alternatives.(Durant 2019). There is a great potential for market growth as meat is estimated to be a $1.4 trillion market. ( Rosenbaum 2019).

In May 2016, Beyond Meat released the first plant-based burger to be sold in the meat section of grocery stores (Wellesley 2019). Products that are early to enter into a new market have very little competition, however, as the demand for their product increases, so does their competition.

Growing environmental, health and ethical concerns will continue to drive consumer behavior regarding protein consumption.

A relevant comparison may be the plant-based milk industry. This category in the U.S. was worth $2 billion in 2017 and made up 13% of the dairy milk category. This industry is growing at a rate of 10% annually. If plant-based meat alternatives were to achieve similar results, the U.S. market alone would be worth 35 billion dollars annually (Durant 2019).