Consumer Interview

Please conduct an in-depth interview with someone not in the class about a recent purchase.

Your goal in the interview will be to discover the decision-making process that led up to this purchase decision (including both external and internal factors that motivated this decision).

Please be sure to find out the following:
• What led this consumer to realize that he or she needed or wanted to buy in this product category?
• How many alternatives (if any) did the consumer consider?
• How did the person decide to buy the alternative that he or she chose?
• Which product attributes were important to this consumer? Why was it important to him or her that the product have these attributes?
Important: please use the laddering technique to prompt the consumer to tell you the key benefits/values that they associate with product attributes. First, ask them to name an important attribute of the product, and then ask them why it is important to them that product have that attribute. After they answer, ask them why it is important to them that they get that benefit, and so on, until you’ve found out a higher‐level, more‐abstract motivation (e.g., self‐esteem, peace of mind, safety) underlying their preference for the attribute.
• Are there other key associations (e.g., beliefs, feelings, memories, etc.) that come to mind for the consumer when thinking about this product that have not been already described?
• Will the person buy this same product (and brand) again? Why or why not?

After conducting this observation, please type a two‐page summary and analysis of your findings.
• Please note the store you observed, as well as the day, date, and time you conducted the observation.
• Give as much descriptive detail as possible about what you observed
• Come up with any marketing implications for the managers of this store based on your observations
• Please bring a copy of your write‐up to class on date specified on course schedule. Be prepared to discuss if called upon to do so.