Explain how new products are diffused through a marketplace, and Essay

Explain how new products are diffused through a marketplace, and identify the different groups involved in the process - Essay Example In simpler words, the willingness to buy a product at a particular time is different for different people. The first ever contribution to the field was provided by Everett Rogers in 1962. He defined diffusion as ‘the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system’. The figure below provides a brief understanding of the diffusion of innovation process curve. This curve categorises people and organisations according to the willingness of the people to buy the product and adoption of the innovations. To further gain a better understanding of the various stages that have been displayed above the following sub sections will deal with the characteristics of the each of the groups. As has been noted in the figure, and as suggested by Roger, the five broad characteristics for each of the categories are as under: a) Innovators: The people who fall under this category are generally very venturesome. The people who fall into this category generally tend to be different and like to have the latest versions of all new products and are willing to be the first to experiment the new products. These people tend to be the younger population of the markets. The general characteristics of these groups are that they are highly educated, with high levels of confidence, and highly affluent financially. The fact that the groups are affluent financially, allows them to be able to test with the products and take chances. Considering the innovators of organisations, generally fall into the companies with better educated management. The reasons for these groups to adopt newer innovations is the fact of their own god track record in introducing newer products to the markets and the need to be updated with the latest in the markets. b) Early Adopters: This is the second group of people in the market. These groups do not tend to be very venturesome like the innovators.