Consumers make many complex buying decisions everyday and the buying patterns and behaviors are the focal point of analysis for the marketers. Large companies spend hefty amounts in research and analysis of the basic questions as what consumers buy, how they buy, where they buy, how much they buy and when they buy.
Consumers buying behavior is primarily influenced by the external and internal stimuli which depict the multiple buying patterns and behaviors. According to one market expert “The human mind doesn’t work in a linear way”. The consumers’ mind is a black box which has the characteristics and decision process influenced by the marketing stimuli i.e. the 4Ps and the environment itself. The same happens with TiVo.
Despite of having a revolutionary product with a bundle of innovative and productive features, TiVo suffers disappointing sales performance during 1999. TiVo faced a slow start which was supported by the marketing team as lack of awareness and hard to communicate functionalities, the lesson of initial slow sales became a catalyst for a new communications strategy. The marketing team had to come up with a new marketing campaign and positioning strategy. The marketing team can adopt three options of positioning TiVo: 1) as a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) 2) a television network that users create on their own 3) as an enhanced VCR.
According to Keast, “there is a mystery in the sharp contrast between the inertia of prospects and the evangelical zeal of TiVo users”.
1. The Gap between Conventional Devices and the New Technology:
The mystery lies in closing the gap between the consumers’ affiliation with conventional electronic devices and the technologically innovative products. Consumers would prefer to buy a product which they can easily relate to an already existing product and in TiVo’s case, it can be the VCR. TiVo can be thought of as an