Question

Which adopter category do you belong to? Does this differ with different product categories? How about your parents and/or older friends and family members; what category are they? Is age a factor in innovation behavior?

Answer 1

I belong to the category of early adopters in general, as I try to seek some initial reviews before shelling moeny out for myself.

Though it varies for certain products, in most category I seek initial expert reviews to make up my mind. I need not wait for a huge set of users, especially my friends and family to purchase certain item. Though in case of commodities I become part of early or late majority, as in such a case I do not spend so much time doing research and seeking reviews, anything thats popular is good to go.

My parents fall into the category of early majority in most cases, they tend to look for direct inputs from adopted users especially friends and family and only when the product is established they purchase it. It is more a factor of risk aversion than age, todays generation is more risk taking and that is the reason it seems age is factor in the innovation behavior, while in reality it is more a factor of awareness that dispels fear and hence risk is automatically reduced in this way.