15A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2
The
segment that I picked to interview was college town students that do not own
scooters. From these three interviews, I learned a lot about the different
buying habits of the different interviewees.
From
my first interview, I learned that price and quality were some of the main
factors when buying a product. She said that she tended to buy the middle
priced item because she thought the cheapest was bad quality and the highest
was a rip-off. She also added that some type of statistic or data on the
effectiveness of the lock would promote her consumption of the product. She
said she prefers to online shop, but feels this product would be best promoted
with the physical sale of scooters. If she was to purchase a scooter and the
lock, and it got stolen, she would consider the purchase bad.
For
my second interview, I used my best friend who is looking into purchasing a
scooter. Her biggest concern would be the additional price of the lock. She
said she would be more inclined to buy a scooter if the lock came with it, but
was not sure if she would additionally purchase the lock on her own. She would
most likely finance the scooter, so she would not want to increase how much
interest she was paying by adding a lock. She said she would most likely
purchase it if she noticed herself that scooter theft was a problem.
For
my third interview, they brought up how the style of the lock would influence
the purchase of it. They claimed that the design sounded complicated and how
they were unlikely to use it if it took more than a minute to properly lock the
scooter. He agreed that our sales should be business to business rather than
business to consumer because the scooter salespeople can promote it with the
sale of a scooter. They said if they could know that the lock prevented their
scooter from getting stolen, that they would think it was a good
purchase.
Overall,
these answers received from the interviewees made me realize what matters most
to this market segment. I learned the quality (effectiveness) of the lock is
one of the main factors that will influence the purchase of it. I confirmed
that buyers are most likely to buy the lock at the same time as the purchase of
their consumer, so therefore it is smartest to use B2B sales. Finally, I need
to aim for a middle price range in the lock market, to ensure that customers do
not consider the product either cheap or not worth the price.
Similarly to my interviews, you learned that price is a huge factor in decision making for a business. That was the same with mine, and people are willing to pay less than what I thought. They don't spend money that easily. Your idea is a product and mine is a service so that makes it a little different. You have a great idea and I think people would buy it even though it is in a college market because it's a complement to what they already bought.
ReplyDeleteHi Mady!
ReplyDeleteThese are some great insights. Understanding that price and quality are really important factors for your target market can help you make decisions about how to actually produce this scooter lock system. I think the insight from your best friend is super interesting. She would not be so inclined to buy a separate lock, but she would be interested if it came with the scooter. That's good to know because maybe you should focus on selling this product to scooter companies and businesses directly rather than to people who own scooters.
Hi Mady!
ReplyDeleteYour market segment really gave some great insight into what they would be willing to purchase in terms of scooter security. Understandably, they want something that is effective, but still relatively inexpensive. Considering that your market is primarily consistent of college/grad students, they don't really have the funds to purchase a lock and tracker system for thousands of dollars. They need something that will prevent their scooter from getting stolen, but at the same time not break their bank. If this can be achieved, I believe you have a substantial consumer pool, especially at UF.