Maturity stage

Forever 21

When the sales growth of the product reached a peak and slow down (Bhambri,
2015), it indicates that the maturity stage is reached. In this stage, the company will usually
having a higher expenditure in the promotion. This is probably due to in this particular
stage the firms will have a stable number of competitors, to attract more customers the
firms may put more effort in giving price promotion to the customers, for example, price-
cutting promotion. Besides that, the firms may consider products modification and
improvement which might give them a competitive advantage (Product Life Cycle Stages,
n.d.). Therefore, the firm may minimize their loss and decline over the period.

First of all, Forever 21 had faced strong competition in the market. As the business
operating style of Forever 21 is similar to the H&M and Zara. In that period, both of them
battle in the market to become the main leader of the fashion trend. Forever 21 tried so
hard for winning the competition by changing their previous tagline “our target customer
is people in their 20s” to “Old people wanted to be 21 again, and young people wanted to
be 21 forever” in 2012 (Mensik & Peltz, 2019). Which means the firms has made changes
on the company targeted customers, the firms tried to telling the people the brand is not
only targeting the 20s’ customer. It also becomes another way for the company to attract
more customer about their brand.

Besides that, the sales of the company reached a peak of $4.4billion in the year
2015. Under the maturity stage, it also shows that the revenue of the company had fallen
after the peak revenue. The situation can be explained by the fast changes in the fashion
trend in today’s society. In this case, the actual sales may not match with the actual
production (Wang & Kim, 2019). To reduce the losses, the firm may probably sell outdated
products at a lower price in order to minimize their losses. Hence, the firm could only earn
a little profit or even no profit after the reduction of the cost of the retailed product. As a
result, the revenue would fall over the period. Lately, the company turn into the decline
stage.
Blackberry

Over the introduction stage, the company had moved on to the maturity stage which
may refer to the company annual sales performance. This can be proven by the company
performance that had fulfilled the characteristic of maturity stage that has been mentioned
earlier.

The maturity stage of the Blackberry product can be proven when the Curve and
Bold 9XXX series is very first launched to the market (Refers to Appendix A) in 2008
(Woollaston, 2016). During that time, those series of the product are the most successful
and famous among the others. This may probably due to the company is to consider
expertise in the field during the period and them holding the information regarding the
potential customers demand. Other than that, the company can have a brief review of 5810
feedback which launch in 2002. Therefore, during that time RIM can improve the product
on the bases in order to attract more customers. In 2008, the stock price of the company
even reaches the highest for the past 20 years (macrotrends, 2020). It can be said also the
product is mature enough, the customer is confident on the product and willing to invest in
the brand.

According to the Statista, the company reached peak sales in 2011 at US dollar
19,907 (in million). Before the year 2011, RIM had to face 2 main competitors, which are
Apple and Google (Muthukumar, Ramakrishnan & Krishnamacharyulu, 2017). Both of
them release the new product after listen to the market demand in order to improve their
competitive advantage. Hence, each of them could win the competition in the market and
able to lengthen the growth or maturity stage.
 REFERENCES

Bhambri, S. (2015). International Journal Of Business Management. Product Life Cycle,

2(1), 2349-3402. Retrieved from http://www.ijbm.co.in/downloads/vol2-
issue1/45.pdf

Muthukumar, R., Ramakrishnan, L., Krishnamacharyulu, CSG. (2017). Turnaround of

BlackBerry. International Journal of Mangement Cases, 19(4). Retrieved from
http://www.ijmc.org/ijmc/vol_19.4_files/19.4.pdf#page=4

Holst, A. (11 Nov, 2019). statista. Retrieved from Revenue of RIM/Blackberry worldwide
2004-2019: https://www.statista.com/statistics/266240/global-revenue-of-rim-
since-2004/#statisticContainer

Product Life Cycle Stages. (n.d.). Retrieved from Produc Life Cycle Stage Explained:
https://productlifecyclestages.com/

Woollaston, V. (2016, Sep 28). WIRED. Retrieved from BlackBerry phones through the
ages: https://www.wired.co.uk/gallery/blackberry-phones-history-pictures

macrotrends. (2020). Retrieved from BlackBerry- 21 Year Stock Price History |BB:

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/BB/blackberry/stock-price-history

Wang, K., & Kim, I. (30 Sep, 2019). BUSINESS INSIDER. Retrieved from At its peak,
Forever 21 made $4.4 billion in revenue. Here's what led to the brand's downfall
and bankruptcy.: https://www.businessinsider.com/forever-21-bankruptcy-rise-
fall-retail-apocalypse-fast-fashion-2019-9?IR=T
Appendix A