As Time Goes By: Do Cold Feet Follow Warm Intentions for Really New versus Incrementally New Products?

Combining prior theory about really new products (RNPs) with temporal construal theory, the authors show in four field studies that consumers follow through less often on positive purchase intentions to buy RNPs than on intentions to buy incrementally new products (INPs), and the decrement grows over time. Compared with consumers of INPs, consumers of RNPs are less likely to think concretely about the circumstances of buying and using the products and are more poorly calibrated in their expectations of initial product use. The authors discuss implications for both the marketing of and the market research on RNPs.