Figuring out Buyer Behavior No.1

Assignment 12A - Figuring out Buyer Behavior No.1

Segment:

My segment that I chose to focus on for the waiting time for the check at restaurants was athletes. I was looking at students and segmented them into people with transport, upperclassmen, international students, NCAA athletes, and students involved in student organizations. Therefore, I chose to focus on athletes as it relates to me, and I imagined that many athletes have this need as they are concerned with fueling their bodies.

Interviews:

Jack:

Need Awareness:

He has just retired from swimming and so reflected on his time as an athlete. He distinctly remembers swim meets being the most frustrating. He said that is the time when he is in a rush to get food and wants to go home and sleep to recover for racing the next day. He said that in this environment with team dinners there is about 50 people so he is not paying, the coaches are, but he definitely notices the long wait after finishing his meal, before they leave. When he eats by himself, he notices the wait time at restaurants mostly when he wants to go home and sleep because he has practice the next day. He notices it more at sit down places rather than fast food places as you sit down and the check comes afterwards at these places.

Information search:

He knows that now days restaurants are starting to build in call buttons where the waitress comes over to the table, and that there are other solutions at restaurants. Therefore, he normally goes to these places by using other people’s knowledge, or word of mouth to find the best places. If he were to type in google, he would probably put “Zero wait food.”

When I mentioned about my app he thought it would be a great idea, but also would be good in a bar setting as a way to close a tab.

Kelly:

Need Awareness:

Kelly is a sophomore on the Swimming and Diving team. She also said that she notices the wait time for the check at restaurants mostly at meets as she wants to go in get food and leave right away so that she can get to bed or recover. However, she also said that she notices it when she has been studying or in midterm or finals week when she has things on and wants to finish quickly, “go in and go out.” She also notices it a lot when there are sporting events on in town and it is fairly busy around, at these times she wants to be out quickly due to the pressures of practice the next day.

Information search:

Kelly said that normally when she knows she will have this problem, she goes in with the exact amount of cash she needs so that when she is done eating, she can just put it straight down and leave. Therefore, she plans ahead of time. She also said that she selects places where she can order online first such as Chipotle, so she can just pick it up. She said that she normally hears about these kinds of places through their advertising. She also hears about places that are quick through friends. If she were to type something into google she would put “places where order ahead.”

Carlotta:

Need Awareness:

Carlotta is a golfer at the University of Florida. She is also from Italy. Carlotta said that she notices the wait time at restaurants when she is at tournaments. This is usually because she wants to go and rest. She also said she notices it in airports when she needs food but has to rush to get a flight too. Carlotta said in general she notices it when she is in a rush to get to places and doesn’t have that much time to eat, such as going to practice. She also said she gets frustrated when she’s been sitting there for a long time, or when she is waiting to be seated and can see that other people have finished eating and are just waiting for their check.

Information search:

Normally when she is at a tournament it is the coaches that choose where they eat so they normally consider places that are fast and efficient so use the internet or common knowledge about places.

Conclusion:

All of my interviews revealed generally the same trends about when the need is present with regard to sports but some of them notice it at other times too. The need is definitely more of a problem and more noticeable at sit down restaurants. Athletes normally notice it more during meets, traveling, or on their way to practice. Kelly mentioned that being a student, and living in a student town, also means that exam week causes more frustration with wait time. Events in town also cause bigger crowds so the wait times tend to be longer, but this affects all people going to restaurants, not just athletes. However, athletes have to worry about getting to practices or recovering. In regards to the information search, mostly athletes search through friends, word of mouth, advertisements, or the internet.