Roles of Consumers in Demand for Iphone free essay sample

Consumers in the Demand for the iPhone On the 14th of October, hundreds and thousands of people from all around the world queued for hours just to purchase a gadget of the future – the iPhone 4S. â€Å"Outside the Apple store on Regent Street in London, a line of shoppers snaked down nearby Hanover Street [whilst] in Covent Garden at least 700 people were queuing (Mathis, 2011). † It makes one wonder how innovative this product really is to draw this much attention. What do consumers see in the iPhone? Is it about product viability, status enhancement or just another Apple product to tick off the list? â€Å"Consumer behaviour refers to the selection, purchase and consumption of goods and services for the satisfaction of their wants (Shah, 2010). † There are six main types of consumers in society, each with different roles. It is vital to examine the various functions of each type of consumer with regard to the iPhone. We will write a custom essay sample on Roles of Consumers in Demand for Iphone or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Several factors influence the type of the consumer and his/her consumption. These range from culture, social class, family, roles and status, age, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle and beliefs. Basically, consumers identify themselves within a particular group and act accordingly towards consumption and demand for innovation whilst considering the product life cycle. In order to determine the effect of the iPhone on consumers, a background of the product must be considered. The iPhone 4S is the most advanced piece of technology Apple has ever invented. It is an upgrade to the iPhone 4 and was released only a month ago. Its new features include Siri, an intelligent personal assistant that helps you with your needs. Moreover, it has a dual-core A5 chip which makes browsing, gaming and everything faster. Add to this an 8MP camera, iOS 5 updated software, iCloud to store content on devices and all the previous functions of the iPhone 4 and you have the smashing new iPhone 4S, â€Å"the most amazing iPhone yet (Apple, 2011). â€Å" It is currently priced from ? 499 and its demand is gargantuan. The iPhone may be distinguished as a luxury good for some or a normal good for another. This all depends on the background of the consumer. Most of the people lining up on the first day of the iPhone 4S release or the early stages of the product life cycle are more likely to be categorised as Marshall consumers or Veblen or Bourdieu consumers. These are two of the six main types of consumers. Marshall consumers are described by Swann (2010) as â€Å"actively seeking out new and different consumption opportunities and actively making the most of each consumption experience (Swann, p 195). † These consumers simply demand the new innovation but do not necessarily need the newly released innovation. On the other hand, the Veblen or Bourdieu consumer is one who â€Å"purchases higher-priced goods whereas similar low-priced substitutes are available caused by the desire for conspicuous consumption (Business, 2011). They are active consumers who yearn for distinction. Marshall consumers are plainly people who are interested about the new product and their benefits. Their passion includes getting a hold of the newest products to appease their demand for innovation and to discover what they have to offer. To them, the iPhone 4S may be nothing but an upgraded version of the iPhone 4 yet just for the sake of change and becau se of the fact that it is the latest gadget, they will purchase it. On the contrary, the Veblen consumer â€Å"can be influenced by the behaviour of at least three groups: a peer group distinction group . and an aspiration group (Swann, p. 192). † These consumers desire distinction and separation from everyone else. The new iPhone is definitely an opportunity to demonstrate distinction. Having a top of the line smart phone newly released by Apple symbolises a massive amount of wealth. Veblen consumers demand the iPhone at its initial stages as a sign of high social class. Similarly, the Bourdieu consumer seeks distinction but with a modest or greater amount of expenditure (Swann, p. 193). For them, the expensive price of an iPhone 4S increases their demand for the product. Basically, both Veblen and Bourdieu consumers demand the new iPhone simply because of the distinction it brings with its ownership whilst the Marshall consumer consumes to explore. A minor type of consumer that may have been present on the release of the iPhone is the Dutiful consumer. These are consumers who simply have to purchase the iPhone because of their duty. An example would be a journalist writing about the new iPhone. He/she would clearly need to have the iPhone before a review could be written. In other cases, it could simply be a consumer who has a collection of Apple products and believes it is their duty to purchase the new iPhone. During the middle stages of the product life cycle of the iPhone, three different types of consumers come in and increase the demand for the innovation. The Douglas consumer, Learning consumer and the Conventional economic consumer all boost the demand for the iPhone in varying levels. Douglas consumers are based on Mary Douglas who wrote that â€Å"the real moment of choosing is choice of comrades and their way of life (Douglas, p. 45). These consumers base their consumption on social interaction and peer group loyalty. Learning consumers conversely are those who recognise the innovation as something worth having. It develops with their knowledge of the uses of the innovation and increases their demand for the product. Finally, the Economic consumer changes only if the environment changes. The most important factor of this type of consumer is the fact that they are interested in innovations that offer them features that reduce their costs (Swann, p. 190). Douglas consumers are influenced by the group of people they associate themselves with. An interesting characteristic about this type of consumer is the initial hesitation to demand innovation. However, as soon as the ‘group leader’ adopts the innovation, the demand increases. In terms of the iPhone, a group of people may deem it to be unnecessary, extravagant or luxurious depending on their social standing. Its initial release may not have been something important to the members of this group. Although, once an important member of the group buys an iPhone, members tend to follow the same procedure and purchase iPhones as well. This increases the demand for the iPhone only because it demonstrates peer allegiance. Coincidentally, since Douglas consumers increase the demand for the iPhone, Veblen consumers would demand less of this product. This is due to the fact that the Veblen consumers originally acquire the iPhone to symbolise their high level of social status. Once the consumers below this begin to procure the same product, they would not be differentiated as much as they formerly were. It is vital to appreciate that an increase in demand due to Douglas consumers may mean a decrease in demand by Veblen consumers. The Learning consumers demand the iPhone simply because of the features everyone has been raving about. It could only take them a brief moment to witness the intelligence of Siri to understand the value of an iPhone. Siri is the personal assistant that simply does your work for you. For example, you can say â€Å"Siri, remind me of Dad’s birthday on Tuesday† and Siri will automatically create an event reminding you of â€Å"Dad’s birthday. † This feature has never been witnessed before and could be the main reason why Learning consumers would demand this innovation (Apple, 2011). This could be similar to the Economic consumers. Although they do not participate in ‘groupthink,’ once they recognise how the iPhone can reduce their costs, they will eventually demand it. They see this as an all-in-one gadget as it allows one to call, message, email, surf the net, play music, take photos and watch videos. These features in just one iPhone would reduce their expenditure on other gadgets like the Mp3 players and allow them to use their money on different things. The last stage of the product life cycle is the mass market. At this point, the innovation is in full swing in terms of demand and has been in the market for quite a bit of time. This is where the Galbraith consumer affects the demand of the innovation. In 1958, Galbraith through his book, The Affluent Society, described the consumer as one whose â€Å"wants and tastes were shaped by advertising (Swann, p. 190). † Basically, consumers under this category are easily persuaded by marketing schemes and are pushed to purchase the new innovation. In the case of the iPhone, Apple continuously releases advertisements promoting their product. Apple has released three new iPhone ads that suggest if you dont have an iPhone, there are a lot of things youre missing (Horn, 2011). † They emphasise on the qualities of an iPhone and go for iPhone envy. Galbraith consumers, after witnessing this advertisement would more likely increase the demand of the iPhone. Finally, routine consumers are those who are least motivated by innovation (Swann, p. 1 97). They are not influenced by advertising and stick to the familiar processes of their consumption. Therefore, the iPhone, no matter how appealing it may be to consumers all around the globe, will not be attractive in their perception. In the end the demand for innovation, in this case the iPhone 4S, depends on the consumers’ preferences and the stage of the product cycle. The initial stage would highlight activity of the Marshall, Veblen amp; Bourdieu and Dutiful consumers whilst the middle stage and the mass market would include activity of the Douglas, Economic, Learning, Galbraith and Routine consumers respectively. People are generally different types of consumers at different instances and possess various inclinations from time to time. The exciting thing about this is the idea of innovation as a cycle. All we are sure of is that innovations will continuously develop and hopefully lead us to a better and brighter future. [1647] References Battisti, Giuliana 2011, Lecture 3: Innovation, Demand and Consumption, lecture notes distributed in The Economics of Innovation at the University of Nottingham on 19 October 2011. Douglas, Mary and Aaron Wildavsky. Risk and Culture: An Essay on the Selection of Technological and Environmental Dangers. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1983. Galbraith, John, 1958. The Affluent Society. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.