For this exercise, I continued my interviews in the segment that ranges from buyers between the ages of 18-25. This time, as the directions stated, I focused on how they determine what product they want to buy and what kinds of things they look for. When I asked two college students who were in their sophomore and junior years about this, their answers differed slightly. One of the students said that price does matter to him and although he wants a quality product, he is on a budget so the price can make a big difference. The other student said that he looks for the best product no matter what the price is. He said when it comes down to it when he's looking to shop for a product to fulfill a need he has, then the goal is to fulfill that need, not to save money. They both said that the medium at which they shop in doesn't necessarily matter, but they both said they prefer online shopping because it's easier than going in the stores. One of the students said that when he gets the product and it achieves the need or reason that he bought the product than it was a successful buy for him. The other student agrees but also assesses his idea of whether it was a good purchase on whether or not he got a good deal on the item. I also interviewed someone who has already graduated from college and has begun her career in the workforce. She says that when she is looking for a product like this one or any product, the first thing she looks at is price and the quality is second. She said she will sacrifice some money for quality but doesn't want to break the bank doing so. She said that if she has tried a lot of alternatives and still doesn't have a solution to her problem then she will look for the product that has the best quality and is almost guaranteed to work, which is normally the most expensive one. She said that she views the purchase as a good purchase if the product works and she is satisfied with what she got for the amount of money that she spent. Obviously, if she thinks the opposite, then it was a bad purchase. All of my interviewees said they pay with cash or their debit cards depending on how high the price is.
Throughout these interviews, I was pretty interested as to what everyone looked for and prioritized when they look to purchase a product. I think this segment displayed fairly normal alternative evaluation, I think that weighing options is always a good thing and that is what they appear to be doing. The purchase -decision and post-purchase evaluation is also something that I was not too surprised a lot. However, it did show me that this segment was willing to spend more on a product if it meant the need was fulfilled or the quality was better.
Hey Jacob,
ReplyDeleteLike most products, consumers try to weigh the two most defining parameters: price and quality. They try to find a nice balance between the two to justify their purchase. We, as consumers, tend to measure worth by evaluating whether or not the product does it job effectively and meets our personal requirements and standards. This scale is fluid depending on the product they are searching for.