CONSUMERS’ RESPONSE TO REALLY NEW PRODUCTS: A COHESIVE SYNTHESIS OF CURRENT RESEARCH AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

Abstract

The past decades have witnessed an abundance of research on how consumers learn about, evaluate, and adopt really new products (RNPs)—products that are hard to define using existing product categories and require behavioural changes. Yet, every year, RNPs fail to garner consumer enthusiasm despite promising interesting new features and benefits. The goal of this research is to synthesise extant RNP knowledge with a focus on consumer behaviour and identify future research opportunities. To that end, we screened 587 papers published in marketing journals related to new products and focused on all those that specifically examine consumers’ reaction to new products (53 core papers). We build their findings into a cohesive framework illuminating how consumers learn about RNPs and evaluate their novel benefits considering the uncertainty surrounding these benefits. We also derive recommendations for managers to communicate the utility of a RNP more effectively. We conclude by identifying under-researched aspects and offering suggestions for future research.