Surrogate buyers and the new product adoption process: a conceptualization and managerial framework

Models the role and impact of a relatively new intermediary, the surrogate buyers, on the new product adoption process. Existing diffusion models have ignored the impact of this intermediary who is becoming increasingly influential in many product categories/ purchase situations. Given the increasing product complexity and a plethora of product‐related information in the market, buyers are delegating the task of processing this information and making purchase decisions to surrogate buyers (such as wardrobe consultants, interior decorators). Examines the impact of such delegation on the adoption process. The inclusion of surrogate buyers not only makes the adoption process two‐staged, but also has other important managerial implications because of the unique characteristics of surrogate buyers. Develops a conceptual model to examine the impact of these characteristics on the adoption process and presents strategies to market new products successfully in situations where the surrogate buyers are the primary adopting units.