E-Marketing Professionals

The diffusion process describes the manner in which different members of the target market often accept and purchase a product. It spans the time from product introduction until market saturation:

1. Innovators are the first consumers to buy a new product. They are venturesome, willing to accept risk, socially aggressive, communicative, and cosmopolitan. It is necessary to determine which innovators are opinion leaders?those who influence others to purchase. This group represents 2.5 per cent of the target market.

2. Early adopters are the next consumers to buy a new product. They enjoy the leadership, prestige, and respect that early purchases bring. These consumers tend to be opinion leaders. They adopt new ideas but use discretion. This group represents 13.5 per cent of the market.

3. The early majority is the first part of the mass market to buy a product. They have status in their social class and are outgoing, communicative, and attentive to information cues. This group represents 34 per cent of the target market.

4. The late majority is the second part of the mass market to buy a product. They are less cosmopolitan and responsive to change. The late majority includes people with lower economic and social status, those past middle age, and skeptics. This group represents 34 per cent of the market.

5. Laggards are last to purchase. They are price conscious, suspicious of change, low in income and status, tradition bound, and conservative. Laggards do not adopt a product until it reaches maturity. Some firms ignore them because it can be difficult to market a product to this small group. However, a market segmenter may do well by concentrating on products for laggards. This group represents 16 per cent of the market

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