Please give feedback for question 1 and 2
1. Just as a product has a life cycle, customers' adoption of products occurs in stages. The adoption curve segments consumers in five stages. The first stage is the innovators. The innovators are the first to adopt a new product. Characteristics of this group include eagerness to try the new idea and willingness to take risks. The next segment are the early adopters. The early adopters are well respected by their peers. Typically, they are younger, more mobile, and more creative than later adopters of a product or service. The early adopter is often the opinion leader and what they say about the product influences others. The next segment is the early majority who avoids risk and waits to consider a new idea after many early adopters have tried it and like it. The late majority is cautious about new ideas. They often are older than the early majority group and are more set in their ways. They are less likely to follow the opinion leaders and early adopters. The laggards or non-adopters prefer to do things the way they have been done in the past and are very suspicious of new ideas. They tend to be older and less well educated. They may also be lower in social status and income (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014, p. 117). When a company develops new products, it must be aware of the target market and who will most likely adopt their product and at what time.
It is possible that a customer may be an early adopter in one category of products that they have a strong interest and a laggard or non-adopters in another. For example a person who is a techie or believes he or she must have the latest technology might be an innovator or early adopter. The same individual may not be interested or care what fashions he or she is wearing, happy to wear the jeans in his or her closet that are worn out and out of style falling in the laggard or non-adopter category for apparel.
What stage do you find yourself in customer adoption? Do you find that you are the same across all categories that you purchase or do you fall into different stages depending upon the product? Can you see how this is an added challenge for a marketer as they try to reach the targeted segment?
2. As we all know numerous new products are introduced each year but not all are successful. Many products are introduced without consideration for customers wants or needs. Instead they focus on introducing a product that fits within the core competency of the company. It may not necessarily have unique features or even solve a problem for the customer. I have seen information that indicates anywhere from 40-80% of new products fail (Castellion & Markham, 2013). Regardless of the actual number of failures new products a business success will often depend upon the introduction of new products.
Identify a new product and discuss why you believe it will be a success or failure.