Alex Clouser- Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2 Assignment 15

1. I interviewed a manager at a Macy's in a mall in Orlando, my friend Sam who works in retail, and a cashier at Dillard's at the Oaks Mall.

2. From what I gathered with my interviews, all 3 of my interviewees said that they do not really have many alternative options with regards to data collection, as there are not many companies that are capitalizing on this need at them moment. They did describe to me their preferences for choosing a reliable data collection company, however, and said that price was very important as they would not pay more than it would take to internally deal with data collection. They also said that quality matters a lot because they would not want to pay a considerable amount of money for something that is of poor quality and would not benefit them greatly. All of them said that they did not care for style as this product does not need to be flashy or get the attention of everyone. In conclusion, there is more than one factor that is important to my segment, as evidenced by everyone's interviews.

3. When asked how they would prefer to buy this product, all three said that they would prefer to purchase the data collection service in person rather than online because it is much easier to judge the quality of the service and also gives you a sense of the character of the person selling you the service and whether or not they are reliable. They all agreed on this even though they are currently working different levels of the retail business. They all said that they would likely use cash to purchase it because they would rather pay the service in full than pay it back a little bit at a time, even after the service is performed and useful to them. Sam and the Macy's manager are both involved in the purchase decision making process for their respective stores, but the cashier at Dillard's said that he was not. I believe that even though they are varying levels of status in retail, their answer was the same regarding the services because they understand each other in retail and the way that one retail store operates is very similar to another one.

4. After asking my interviewees about their post purchase evaluations for data collection, they replied with varying answers. The manager at Macy's believed that what constituted a good purchase was if the data collection increased sales in the long run and helped to make their marketing and future innovation easier. The manager believed that it would be a bad purchase if the cost to buy the service exceeded the amount it would cost to internally create a data collection system. The cashier and Sam had a  different idea about what makes a "good" purchase. They believed that it is a good purchase as long as it made money, period, no matter relative increase in income compared to the cost of the purchase. They believed that it would be a bad purchase if the service did not increase any of their income or help them at all.

5. In summary, all of my interviewees had similar answers to all of my questions, which I believe is reflective of the similarity of retail from store to store. While they had slightly differentiated answers, the core of their answer was mostly the same. I believe that this makes retail a great market for my product, as was already evidenced by part 1.

6. I learned a lot in my interviews about this segment in relation to my product and discovered that my beliefs in part 1 were only confirmed during these interviews as I was shown once again just how lucrative my product could be in the retail segment. Overall, I believe that most retail stores would think the same way as these interviewees with regards to post purchase evaluation, alternative evaluation, and purchase decision because of the similarity of each retail store to another based on the same general type of market they are accustomed to.