15A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

Interview 1: Local restaurant general manager (Age 33)

In this interview, I spoke with a local bar and restaurant general manager.  In questioning how he makes decisions on what to implement in the restaurant, he said value played the biggest role. He did not mind paying a premium price for something that he felt brought a lot of value to the business. He said a lot of the ordering he does is online, and they do not finance such purchases. He handles almost all purchasing decisions. He says when he evaluates purchases, he tries to gauge the value that was received. He says he tries to gather a lot of customer feedback and uses that to gauge value.

Interview 2: A sandwich shop owner (Age 38)

In this interview, I spoke with a local sandwich shop owner. In questioning how he makes decisions on what he implements or purchases for his business, he said value plays a huge role. In being a small business, he does not have a big budget on spending. He says that he must believe something would bring the business an immense amount of value in order to make a purchase. When he purchases things for the business, he finances when he can. He liked being able to see things in person before purchasing. When he evaluates purchases, if it is directly related to the business, the first thing he looks at is sales. If something is perceived to be beneficial for the business, he likes to see the revenue match it.

Interview 3: A chain restaurant manager (Age 36)

In this interview, I spoke with a chain restaurant manager. In questioning how he makes purchases for his business, he noted that it was different in working for a corporation. He does not make decisions; however, he does have input as to what may be beneficial for the business. He says that if upper management is presented with something that they believe will be beneficial to the business, they do not hesitate to make a purchase and implement it. Price does not matter as much as the actual product they are receiving and how helpful it is. He says that purchasing is done by upper management and is mainly online. When he evaluates a purchase made by upper management, he looks at how user friendly it is first to determine value. He believes that if something is hard to use or difficult to understand, it can be detrimental. He believes a product must be user friendly in order to be effective.

Summary: Upon conducting these interviews, I have found that all three people in my segment prioritize value over price. All of these restaurant owners and managers are not afraid to purchase or recommend a product for their business if they see potential value.

Draw Conclusions: Based on what I have learned in these interviews, I would describe this segment as being risk-taking with the possibility of gaining a reward. They are not afraid to make purchases for their business that they believe can bring value. They evaluate their purchase decisions on how much value it brought to their business.