In 2006, Microsoft launched a product that they thought would rival the iPod called the Zune. The Zune was an electronic product that did pretty much everything an iPod does. The thing is, it wasn’t in iPod. It wasn’t cool. It did not appeal to the consumer as much as the iPod did, and because of this, it failed.
There are three things that influence consumer behavior. They are external influences, internal influences, and post-decision processes.
External influences are the culture in which the consumer is surrounded. There is no question that in America, and the vast majority of the world, Apple products are hip and popular. Apple’s iPod was a hit. Everyone, myself included, had to had one. In terms of popularity, the Zune never stood a chance.
Internal processes are the motivations and reasons in which a consumer would want or need to purchase a certain product. The Zune is definitely more of a wanted or desired product than a needed product. With that being said, there are a lot of consumers that wanted portable music playing devices. The problem the Zune faced in trying to attract these consumers was its better, more popular big brother, the iPod.
Post-decision processes are what the consumer does with and thinks about the product after buying it. Since I have already been comparing the Zune to the iPod, I will do it some more. The iPod has a camera, the Zune does not. The iPod’s battery lasts 40 hours, while the Zune’s lasts 33. The iPod’s screen is slightly bigger (HowStuffWorks.com). As you can tell, the Zune just doesn’t stack up with the iPod. Consumers will realize this and it will hurt sales.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zune
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/zune-ipod.htm
