1. The Innovation:
Various approaches which have been taken to define a new product or a new service
include:
a. Firm-oriented definitions: A firm oriented approach treats the newness of a product from
the perspective of the company producing or marketing it. When the product is “new” to the
firm it is considered to be new.
b. Product oriented definitions: Product-oriented approach focuses on the features
inherent in the product itself and on the effects these features are likely to have on
consumers’ established usage patterns.
Three types of product innovations could be:
Continuous Innovation having the least disruptive influence on established patterns involving
the introduction of a modified product, rather than a totally new product. E.g., latest version of Microsoft Office;
Dynamically Continuous Innovation which may involve the creation of a new product or the
modification of an existing product e.g., disposable diapers, CD players;
Discontinuous Innovations requiring consumers to adopt new behavior patterns e.g., TV, fax
machines, Internet
c. Market oriented definitions: Judges the newness of a product in terms of how much
exposure consumers have to the new product.
The definitions could be:
) A product is considered new if it has been purchased by a relatively small (fixed)
percentage of the potential market
ii) A product is considered new if it has been in the market for a relatively short
specified) period of time
d. Consumer oriented definitions: A new product is any product that a potential consumer
judges to be new.
2. The Channels of Communication
How quickly an innovation spreads through a market depends to a great extent on
communications between the marketer and consumers, as well as communication among
consumers i.e., word-of-mouth communication.
Thus the communication is of two types of communication:
a. Communication between marketers and consumers
b. Communication among consumers i.e., word of mouth.
Consumer information sources fall into four categories:
-Personal sources: Family, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances.
-sources: sales people, advertising, sales promotion techniques.
-Public sources: Mass media, consumer rating organisations
-Experimental sources: Demonstration, handling samples.
Depending on the innovation or new product, and the prospective customers, the firms try
to adopt a cost effective way of communicating with them.
3. The Social System:
The diffusion of a new product usually takes place in a social setting frequently referred
to as a social system. In our case, the terms market segment and target segment may be
more relevant than the term social system used in diffusion research. A social system is a
physical, social, or cultural environment to which people belong and within which they
function. For example, for new hybrid seed rice, the social system might consist of all
farmers in a number of local villages. The key point to remember is that a social system’s
orientation is the climate in which marketers must operate to gain acceptance for their
new products. For example, in recent years, the World has experienced a decline in the
demand for red meat. The growing interest in health and fitness throughout the nation has
created a climate in which red meat is considered too high in fat and calorie content. At
the same time, the consumption of chicken and fish has increased, because these foods
satisfy the prevailing nutritional values of a great number of consumers.
4. Time:
Time pervades the study of diffusion in three distinct but interrelated ways:
a. The Amount of Purchase Time:
Purchase time refers to the amount of time that elapses between consumers’ initial awareness of
a new product or service and the point at which they purchase or reject it. For instance, when
the concept of “Home Land” super market was introduced by Asha Chavan in Pune, apart from
offering a variety of quality products, also give an unconditional guarantee of replacement or
refund, home delivery of all, even single item telephonic orders at no extra cost. And beyond
business, Homeland also offers free services like phone, electricity, credit card and cell phone bill payments.
b. The Identification of Adopter Categories:
The concept of adopter categories involves a classification scheme that indicates where a
consumer stands in relation to other consumers in terms of time. Five adopter categories are
frequently used viz., innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.
Titany answered the question on November 3, 2021 at 11:30