12A- Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No.1
For this assignment, I interviewed three of my roommates who have also had negative experiences with waiting in line at the store. The segment I targeted were college students.
Interview 1: This individual is a 20-year-old computer science student in Gainesville. After having asked him a few questions he told me that his need is triggered the most when he is in a rush before work. He usually works in the morning as most people do so it's not difficult to picture the influx of people entering the store at this time. When someone is about to be late for work the last thing they want to do is wait a long line that is out of their control. After he becomes aware of his need, he compares whether it will take longer to use the self-checkout line or the other registers.
Interview 2: This person is a 21-year-old business student in Gainesville. I conducted an information search in the interview and I got that her need is triggered the most when she goes to the store late at night. People often go to the store at night because they were to busy in the day to stop by. She said that at night they close all but two of the registers while people are still entering the store. This causes a significantly longer line than there would be if all registers were open. She becomes aware of her need and contemplates whether it's worth it to wait 20 minutes in self-checkout or just go to sleep and go to the store tomorrow.
Interview 3: This person is a 21-year-old economics student in Gainesville. His need is triggered the most when he commits to be somewhere and the line is causing him to be late. This can lead to significant levels of stress for some people because they know they need to buy a certain item at the store but they are forced to sit in a line that forces them to not be on time. After he becomes aware of the need, he decides whether buying the item or making the event on time is more important.
From these interviews I learned that college students go to the store at more scattered times than other people due to their lack of commitments. This causes students to feel more stressed when there isn't enough registers open because they don't want their delay at the store to cause them to be late to something they actually care about. College students are a segment that feel strongly about this need and they consider all options when they become aware of the need.
Interview 1: This individual is a 20-year-old computer science student in Gainesville. After having asked him a few questions he told me that his need is triggered the most when he is in a rush before work. He usually works in the morning as most people do so it's not difficult to picture the influx of people entering the store at this time. When someone is about to be late for work the last thing they want to do is wait a long line that is out of their control. After he becomes aware of his need, he compares whether it will take longer to use the self-checkout line or the other registers.
Interview 2: This person is a 21-year-old business student in Gainesville. I conducted an information search in the interview and I got that her need is triggered the most when she goes to the store late at night. People often go to the store at night because they were to busy in the day to stop by. She said that at night they close all but two of the registers while people are still entering the store. This causes a significantly longer line than there would be if all registers were open. She becomes aware of her need and contemplates whether it's worth it to wait 20 minutes in self-checkout or just go to sleep and go to the store tomorrow.
Interview 3: This person is a 21-year-old economics student in Gainesville. His need is triggered the most when he commits to be somewhere and the line is causing him to be late. This can lead to significant levels of stress for some people because they know they need to buy a certain item at the store but they are forced to sit in a line that forces them to not be on time. After he becomes aware of the need, he decides whether buying the item or making the event on time is more important.
From these interviews I learned that college students go to the store at more scattered times than other people due to their lack of commitments. This causes students to feel more stressed when there isn't enough registers open because they don't want their delay at the store to cause them to be late to something they actually care about. College students are a segment that feel strongly about this need and they consider all options when they become aware of the need.
Hi Felipe,
ReplyDeleteI think your segment was a great choice and fantastic group to market too since many college students have very busy lives. With many students on the same schedule, it makes sense that the stores would get busy early in the morning or late at night, and having automated registers could speed up these lines immensely. The only problem with this segment is that you are trying to sell your products to stores, not customers, so you would need to work on making the product appealing to stores most of all.
Hi Felipe, great post! These interviews were very valuable. I found the second interview especially relatable. One of the Walmart's in Gainesville always has long lines at the self checkouts because there are typically only a few employees working. There is another Walmart in Gainesville that has all automated checkouts. This Walmart never has lines. This could be due to a number of factors, however it may prove that self checkout lines and automated transactions are much quicker.
ReplyDeleteHi Felipe,
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job conducting these interviews and finding different college students who are always in a rush as this product will definitely work for them and save them lots of time. Many stores will definitely be able to use your product and I think based on these interviews you can develop a game plan that will allow you to sell your product to different stores and have it change the way retail stores are ran as a whole.