Early Adopters and Early Majority

Abstract

In this chapter, the characteristics and the role of the early adopters and early majority are reviewed from the life cycle perspective following the VCR case study. Both of these groups of consumers purchase a mature or more advanced product at a reasonable price. Their adoption demonstrates that the product performance has enough future possibilities. On the other hand, manufacturers should expand their manufacturing facilities quickly because the demand starts growing dramatically. The early adopters (13.6 percent) are almost six times as many as innovators (2.3 percent) and the early majority (34.1 percent) is about 2.5 times as many as early adopters. Once a diffusion process starts, the spread is very rapid in the first group.