Figuring out Buyer Behavior 2

Interview 1: This interviewee is a college smoker who lives off-campus. When asked about choosing a product he first does consider price because he is a student and does not have an abundance of extra money to spend. He says that if the product is truly superior to another he is willing to spend a little more on it, but overall, he likes to remain somewhat frugal. He says that he likes to buy whatever he can online and have it delivered to him because there is so much traffic around Gainesville. He thinks it is a waste of time to go and purchase something from the store when you can see reviews and all the details of the product online without the hassle. When he is ordering online he will use a debit or credit card because it is hard to pay cash online. He says a lot of his post-purchase evaluation is whether he is getting good use out of the product immediately. He says he wants to get as much value from the product and use is a big factor of value. Sometimes the efficiency of the product is also a factor for him. Is the way it functions worth the amount of money spent.

Interview 2: This interviewee is a college smoker who lives on campus. When asked about choosing a product she said price was not too important and that style and popularity were large factors in her buying decision. She also said that she wants the best or most well-known product on the market. She says that this usually end up being a solid product but it also gives her a sort of individualism. She says that she usually buys online as well because she only has a scooter as transportation. She says because of this it is hard to buy things at the store and get them back to her dorm. It is much more convenient to order online and have it come to her dorm building. She says that she also pays with a debit or credit card for most things because it is hard to pay with cash online. She says that a lot of her post-purchase evaluation comes from the efficiency of the product and what her friends think about the product. She says when friends tell her the product isn’t any good is one of the few things that make her regret her decision.

Interview 3: My last interview was with another college smoker who lives off campus. When asked about choosing a product she also said that price is the most important characteristic. She pays for her own school and does not have a lot of spare money. This forces her to be frugal and buy products that have low prices that are also high rated products. She says style does not matter to her at all if the product does what is supposed to do. She says she likes to go to the store to buy her products. The only time she orders online is when the store does not have the product in stock and she is forced to do so. She says she likes to see the product in person and look at some price points on other similar products. She says she likes to use cash to buy her products because she does not like to charge her credit card too much. Her post-purchase evaluation is the value of the product. She wants to know that the product performs it task like it was supposed to or better so that she knows the money she spent was well used. The only time she feels bad about a purchase is when the product has low value and she feels like she wasted hard earned money.

Conclusion: It seems like my segment is going to be mostly concerned about price because they are college students who do not have a ton of extra money to spend. Obviously based off my second interview there will be some exceptions but I expect those to be sparse. It seems like purchase decision will be mixed because many college students buy online, but there are so many stores in a college town that doing either is simple and understandable. Two out of my three interviewees like to buy online so I would say that buying online may be a little more prevalent. When it comes to post-purchase evaluation it seems like value is very important to this segment, because they do not have a ton of money to spend they want their money to be well spent on an above average product.