Alternative Evaluation
All three of my interviews had a different aspect deemed the most important when picking among alternatives. One interviewee looked at price, one looked at recommendations from others, and the last one looked at the quality. However, all three interviewees said that price and quality are two important characteristics they look at when choosing a product. Other features such as aesthetics and popularity, are less important.
How/where do they buy?
I had one person state that they mainly shop in-store, another person state that they mainly shop online, and another person equally shopping in-store and online. In terms of how they buy, two interviewees usually buy with a debit card or cash, while the last interviewee mainly purchased items with a credit card. I had the most varied responses in this section.
Post-Purchase Evaluation
All of my interviewees agreed that product functionality determined if the purchase was a good idea. The convenience and durability of a product also played an important role for two of the interviewees.
All of my interviewees agreed that they determined a product was a bad purchase decision if it was faulty. This makes sense since most people do not like receiving a faulty product. One interviewee in particular noted the durability or if the return on investment played a role in this stage. A different interviewee stated that she has no opinion on customer service in terms of a bad purchase decision unless they refuse to refund or fix the faulty product.
Conclusions
Overall, I found the responses to be quite similar to each other. I am not surprised by this because all of my interviewees are college students or young adults who are only a few years out of college, so they tend to think alike. However, I was surprised that aesthetics didn't play a larger role in the alternative evaluation section. I think many products that are geared towards this group focus heavily on aesthetics, so I was fully expecting that characteristic to be a major component of the alternative evaluation stage.
I would describe this segment as a group that mainly focuses on price, quality, and functionality. This segment expects to get a good product, and doesn't want to deal with faulty products. This group will likely not buy items with money they don't have, hence the use of cash and debit cards. Other less important characteristics play a role in the process, but price and quality are by far the most important. Overall, as long as the product is functional and not faulty, they are happy with the purchase.
All three of my interviews had a different aspect deemed the most important when picking among alternatives. One interviewee looked at price, one looked at recommendations from others, and the last one looked at the quality. However, all three interviewees said that price and quality are two important characteristics they look at when choosing a product. Other features such as aesthetics and popularity, are less important.
How/where do they buy?
I had one person state that they mainly shop in-store, another person state that they mainly shop online, and another person equally shopping in-store and online. In terms of how they buy, two interviewees usually buy with a debit card or cash, while the last interviewee mainly purchased items with a credit card. I had the most varied responses in this section.
Post-Purchase Evaluation
All of my interviewees agreed that product functionality determined if the purchase was a good idea. The convenience and durability of a product also played an important role for two of the interviewees.
All of my interviewees agreed that they determined a product was a bad purchase decision if it was faulty. This makes sense since most people do not like receiving a faulty product. One interviewee in particular noted the durability or if the return on investment played a role in this stage. A different interviewee stated that she has no opinion on customer service in terms of a bad purchase decision unless they refuse to refund or fix the faulty product.
Conclusions
Overall, I found the responses to be quite similar to each other. I am not surprised by this because all of my interviewees are college students or young adults who are only a few years out of college, so they tend to think alike. However, I was surprised that aesthetics didn't play a larger role in the alternative evaluation section. I think many products that are geared towards this group focus heavily on aesthetics, so I was fully expecting that characteristic to be a major component of the alternative evaluation stage.
I would describe this segment as a group that mainly focuses on price, quality, and functionality. This segment expects to get a good product, and doesn't want to deal with faulty products. This group will likely not buy items with money they don't have, hence the use of cash and debit cards. Other less important characteristics play a role in the process, but price and quality are by far the most important. Overall, as long as the product is functional and not faulty, they are happy with the purchase.
Hi Tara!
ReplyDeleteIts interesting to me that all of your interviewees had different aspects they deemed more important than the others. Maybe it was because I have such an exclusive target audience, or that my product is so specific, but I found in my interviews that they mostly considered quality and reviews to be the determining facts when choosing a product.
Hi Tara,
ReplyDeleteI find it very interesting that all your interviewees had different perspectives, while mine seemed to have many similar or complementary opinions to each other. The people I interviewed also agreed that they would be left unsatisfied with the product if it was faulty, or did not function as promised. Like your interviewees, mine prioritized function and practicality over style. Overall, I think people share very similar expectations and basic needs that they want to be satisfied.
Hi Tara,
ReplyDeleteI liked your approach towards the assignment as you made the best use of the resources available to get insights into buying behavior by focusing on different aspects for each interview. I believe your interviews were really comprehensive as you focused on the what, where, how, and why of the buying process and did a great job summarizing results.
It is also nice to see how well you analyzed not only the buyer behavior but the competitors, which gave you a crystal clear view on the process.