2. Learning Objectives
1. To Understand the Twofold Process of the Spread and
Acceptance of Innovative Products and Services
Within a Social System.
2. To Understand How Innovative Products and Services
Spread (or Fail to Spread) Within a Social System.
3. To Understand How Individual Consumers Decide
Whether or Not to Try and Adopt a Particularly
Innovative Product or Service.
4. To Understand the Personal Characteristics of
Innovators.
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Chapter Fourteen Slide
3. What Is Shown or Stated in This Ad That Is Designed
to Attract Consumers to This New Product?
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5. Diffusions of Innovation
• How are new products and services
accepted?
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6. Diffusion
Process
The process by which the
acceptance of an
innovation is spread by
communication to
members of a social
system over a period of
time.
6
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7. Elements of the Diffusion Process
The Innovation
The Channels of Communication
The Social System
Time
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8. The Innovation
• Firm-oriented definitions
– Product is “new” to the company
• Product-oriented definitions
– Continuous
– Dynamically continuous
– Discontinuous
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9. What Kind of Innovation Is Shown
Here, and Why?
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10. Continuous Innovation – The Product
is Modified
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11. The Innovation
• Market-oriented definitions
– Based on consumer exposure
• Consumer-oriented definitions
– Consumer judges it as “new”
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12. The Innovation
Product Characteristics
• Degree to which consumers consider it superior
to existing substitutes
Relative Advantage
• Degree to which consumers feel it is consistent
with their present needs, values, and practices
Compatibility
• The degree to which it is difficult to understand or
use
Complexity
• The degree to which it can be tried on a limited
basis
Trialability
• The degree to which its benefits can be observed,
imagined, or described
Observability
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13. Developing a Marketing Strategy for Diffusing
Innovations - Figure 14.4
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14. Channels of Communication
• Channels of communication
– Marketer to consumer
– Consumer to consumer
– Influential impersonal sources
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15. The Social System
• Modern social systems accept more innovation
due to their:
– Positive attitude toward change
– Advanced technology and skilled labor force
– Respect for education and science
– Emphasis on rational and ordered social relationships
– An outreach perspective where members interact
with outsiders
– A system where members can see themselves in
different roles
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16. Time
• Purchase Time
• Adopter Categories
• Rate of Adoption
16
Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Fourteen Slide
17. Adopter Categories
Category 1 -
Innovators
• First to
buy the
mini
netbook
Category 2 –
Early adopters
• Will buy
mini
netbook
shortly
after its
introducti
on
Category 3 –
Early Majority
• Members
of the 1st
½ of the
“mass
market”
who
would
purchase
the mini
netbook
Category 4 –
Late Majority
• Second
half of
the
“mass
market”
who
would
purchase
the
mature
mini
netbook
Category 5 –
Laggards
• Very last
to
purchase
the mini
netbook,
if at all
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18. Diffusion Curves for Adopter Categories -
Figure 14.5
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19. Discussion Question
• Which adopter category are you?
• Does it differ with different product
categories?
• How about your parents, what category
are they?
• Is age a factor in innovation behavior?
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20. Rate of Adoption
• How long does it
take a new
product to be
adopted by the
members of a
social system?
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Product Number of years
Pager 41
Telephone 38
Cable television 25
Fax machine 22
VCR 9
Cell pone 9
PC 7
Time Required for Electronic Products to
Penetrate 10 percent of UK market
Table 14.3
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Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Fourteen Slide
21. Adoption
Process
The stages through
which an individual
consumer passes in
arriving at a decision to
try (or not to try), to
continue using (or
discontinue using) a new
product.
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22. NAME OF STAGE WHAT HAPPENS DURING THIS
STAGE
EXAMPLE
Awareness Consumer is first exposed to the
product innovation.
Eric sees an ad for a 23-inch thin LCD
HDTV in a magazine he is reading.
Interest Consumer is interested in the
product and searches for
additional information.
Eric reads about the HDTV set on the
manufacturer’s Web site and then goes
to an electronics store near his
apartment and has a sales person show
him the unit.
Evaluation Consumer decides whether or
not to believe that this product
or service will satisfy the need –
a kind of “mental trial.”
After talking to a knowledgeable friend,
Eric decides that his TV will fit nicely on
top of the chest in his bedroom. He also
calls his cable company and finds out
that he can exchange his “standard”
cable box at no cost for an HDTV cable
box.
Stages in Adoption Process
Table 14.4
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23. NAME OF STAGE WHAT HAPPENS DURING THIS
STAGE
EXAMPLE
Trial Consumer uses the product on
a limited basis
Since the HDTV set cannot be “tried”
like a small tube of toothpaste, Eric buys
the TV at this local electronics store on
his way home from work. The store
offers a 14-day full refund policy.
Adoption
(Rejection)
If trial is favorable, consumer
decides to use the product on a
full, rather than a limited basis –
if unfavorable, the consumer
decides to reject it.
Eric loves his new HDTV set and expects
many year of service from it.
Stages in Adoption Process
Table 14.4 (continued)
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24. Importance of Information Sources
Figure 14.8
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25. The Consumer Innovator
• The earliest purchasers of a new product
• Tend to have higher level of:
– Education
– Social interaction
– Opinion leadership
– Venturesomeness
– Social Status
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26. Discussion Questions
• Who do you know, personally, that you would
consider an innovator?
• What is it about that person that makes them
an innovator? What personality traits might
they have which prompt their status?
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27. Cosmopolitan and Non Cosmopolitan
Types - Figure 14.9
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28. The Consumer Innovator
• Interest in product category
• Opinion leader
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29. Discussion Questions
• Who are the most influential opinion leaders
for college-aged people?
• Why are they influential?
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30. The Consumer Innovator
• Personality traits
– Perceived risk and venturesomeness
– Purchase and consumption characteristics
– Media habits
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31. The Consumer Innovator
• Social characteristics
• Demographic
characteristics
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32. Comparative Profiles of the Consumer Innovator and
Noninnovator - Table 14.5 (excerpt)
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Characteristic Innovator Noninnovator
Social Characteristics
Social integration More Less
Social striving More Less
Group memberships More Less
Demographic Characteristics
Age Younger Older
Income Higher Lower
Education More Less
Occupational status Higher Lower
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33. Are There Generalized
Consumer Innovators?
• Domain-specific vs. global innovativeness
• Technology and innovators
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