15A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

First interview – A single mom of 3 – She told me that as a single mom her primary choice when shopping for items is price. She has a relatively low monthly income and therefore she often finds herself shopping at Walmart and other budget based stores. She wants to make sure the things are quality and safe for her kids, so she looks at that too but her primary deciding factor is always price. She normally uses her debit card to purchase items however she says she has had to use a credit card for purchases when her paycheck has not come in yet.

Second interview – wealthy government employed male – This man told me that because he was unmarried and had a very successful career, he focused on buying the best quality goods he could afford (He was in a freshly pressed suit when I interviewed him at Starbucks). This led him to shop at very expensive stores and mainly buy higher end goods. She said he often used his debit card or cash.

Final interview – 3^rd year college female – As a college student this interviewee told me that price was her first priority. While she enjoyed eating organic and buying fashionable clothes, she had very little allowance to live on. Therefore she often shops at bargains stores. She even cited going to the dollar store on occasion. She often used the debit card where her parents deposited her allowance to make purchases. She said she does not own any credit cards.

2 out of my 3 interviews said that price was their largest deciding factor. The majority of Americans don’t make six figure salaries and thus shop at bargain-oriented stores. The people I interviewed mentioned certain products that they bought and never used. They considered these wasted purchases. And thus they believed it was a bad idea to buy these items because they never actually got any value out of them.

Final conclusions – the majority of people in my segment use price as the largest deciding factor when making purchase decisions. They will often buy an alternative, such as a bargain brand, if it costs less and can still do the same job as the more expensive one. After buying something they often look back and see if they got use out of the item. If they believe they got true value out of it that was worth what they paid then they thought it was a good purchase.