8/14/2019 Consumer Adoption Process in Marketing

1/2

CONSUMER ADOPTION PROCESS :

Adoption is an individuals decision to become a regular user of a product.

Sequence of events beginning with consumer awareness of a new product leading to trial usage and culminatingin full and regular use of the new product. Over time the adoption process resembles a bell curve formed byinnovators, early adopters, the majority of consumers, late adopters, and laggards.

An innovation is any good, service, or idea that is perceived by someone as new. The idea may have a longhistory, but it is an innovation to the person who sees it as new. nnovations ta!e time to spread through thesocial system. "ogers defines the innovation diffusion process as #the spread of a new idea from its source ofinvention or creation to its ultimate users or adopters.$

The consumer%adoption process focuses on the mental process through which an individual passes from firsthearing about an innovation to final adoption. Adopters of new products have been observed to move throughfive stages&

'. Awareness %The consumer becomes aware of the innovation but lac!s information about it.

(. nterest%The consumer is stimulated to see! information about the innovation.

). *valuation %The consumer considers whether to try the innovation.

+. Trial%The consumer tries the innovation to improve his or her estimate of its value.

. Adoption %The consumer decides to ma!e full and regular use of the innovation.

The new%product mar!eter should facilitate movement through these stages. A portable electric dishwashermanufacturer might discover that many consumers are stuc! in the interest stage- they do not buy because oftheir uncertainty and the large investment cost. ut these same consumers would be willing to use an electric

dishwasher on a trial basis for a small monthly fee.The manufacturer should consider offering a trial%use planwith option to buy.

PERSONAL INFLUENCE PLAY A KEY ROLE

n case of some of the products, depending to which category they belong to , personal influence and selling isvery important. /emonstrations, e0perimentation, and even free use is given to influence the change in productor its innovation. 1osmetic items, food items and items in use of household are subject to personal selling.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INNOVATION AFFECTS THE RATE OF ADOPTION

Some products are quic! in innovation, such as fashion items or the ones that bring a direct change in our statusetc. Some product ta!e long to adoption. Such as technical products or automobiles etc.

The following things are considered

' "elative advantage

( 1ompatibility

) 1omple0ity

8/14/2019 Consumer Adoption Process in Marketing

2/2

+ /ivisibility

Other things, which influence adoption, are& social acceptability, scientific acceptability, cost and certainty

/iffusion of nnovations is a theory that see!s to e0plain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technologyspread through cultures. *verett "ogers, a professor of communication studies, populari2ed the theory in his

boo! /iffusion of nnovations- the boo! was first published in '34(, and is now in its fifth edition 5(66)7.8'9The boo! says that diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channelsover time among the members of a social system. The origins of the diffusion of innovations theory are variedand span multiple disciplines. The boo! espouses the theory that there are four main elements that influence thespread of a new idea& the innovation, communication channels, time, and a social system. This process reliesheavily on human capital. The innovation must be widely adopted in order to self%sustain. :ithin the rate ofadoption, there is a point at which an innovation reaches critical mass. The categories of adopters are&innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards 5"ogers '34(, p. ' 67. /iffusion of

nnovations manifests itself in different ways in various cultures and fields and is highly subject to the type ofadopters and innovation%decision process.

Adopter category

I o!ator" nnovators are the first individuals to adopt an innovation. nnovators are willing to ta!e ris!s,youngest in age, have the highest social class, have great financial liquidity, are very social and have closestcontact to scientific sources and interaction with other innovators. "is! tolerance has them adoptingtechnologies which may ultimately fail. ;inancial resources help absorb these failures. 5"ogers '34( th ed, p.(