Abstract:

The purpose of the paper is to present the behaviour of Polish consumers of various consumer sectors towards new products with the emphasises put on the changes in these behaviours in 1995 - 2018. The analyses were conducted in the segments of consumer types resulting from the Rogers’ model, i.e. innovators, early followers, early majority of late majority and marauders. The paper presents development of this consumer typology on the Polish market. It is shown that the behaviours of Polish consumers towards new products depend on the basic characteristics of these consumers, such as: gender, age, education and source of income. It is recognised how consumers representing the surveyed groups assess new products offered on the Polish market. The paper presents the differences between the considered consumer groups in terms of sources of information used when purchasing consumer products of various industries. The analysis is based on the results of nationwide surveys conducted in the long term, i.e. 1995, 2001, and 2017-2018. The research results show a relatively higher susceptibility of Polish consumers to new consumer products than the Rogers’ model, as evidenced by the greater number of innovators and early followers on the market of each studied product group. Consumer responses to new products clearly vary depending on their age, education and source of income. The typology of consumers observed on the Polish market according to their approach to new products influences their declared evaluations of these products, which confirm more positive attitudes of innovators, early followers and the early majority as opposed to sceptical and even critical attitudes of the late majority and conservatives-marauders. They also differ in terms of the type of information sources from which they obtain information about the market offer of products.