Week 4 in Review

     This week was a little different than the last three.  On Tuesday, we did another gallery walk for chapters 4 and 8.  We talked a lot about the environmental factors that go into a market.  A lot of people put in their mind maps information about the ethnic markets that are growing in the US.  It is important to pay attention to these markets because they are growing and these ethnic markets will soon be the majority markets in this country.  We also talked about how different generations have different factors that effect what they buy.  For example, selling to teens requires two important factors.  The first factor is to make the product modern and convenient.  As a teen, I know how lazy we can be and I know how we like our stuff shiny and new.  If the product doesn't meet those two factors, I'm probably not going to buy it.  Teens also have to be engaged through promotions that get them involved.  Teens like to have some power so adding an online vote or some kind of challenge or contest enables us to wield some kind of power that we'll have in the near future.  After discussing factors such as these, we watched Shark Tank.  On this Shark Tank episode, we were introduced to Bambooee.  During the show, we filled out a paper containing factors that go along with the product Bambooee.  When it came to political factors, Bambooee is currently patent pending and is a proprietary technology.  Something we don't know is where this product is made which makes me question if they have to do any importing or exporting.  From an economic standpoint, Bambooee is about 5 times the cost of a paper towel roll.  On a soci-cultural level, Bambooee is environmentally friendly and they plant a tree for every roll sold.  Also, people outside of the USA don't use paper towels, they use cloth towels and rags.  In my opinion, paying attention to socio-cultural factors is the most important factor for a product.  Culture is how people live.  If your product doesn't match the culture you're trying to sell to nobody will want to buy it.  Because people aren't used to having reuseable paper towels, people need to learn about them.  Bambooee was put on QVC so people could see a demonstration on how to use the product.  It worked wonderfully and the product actually sold out on QVC.  The competition for Bambooee is other paper towel companies but things like sponges and other kinds of rags are also competition for it.

     On Thursday we talked about buyer behavior when it comes to paper towels.  People recognize that they need paper towels in order to clean a mess.  A customer would go into a store and look for the aisle containing paper towels.  Once discovering the aisle the customer will compare the paper towels.  The brand, the price, and past experience with the paper towel.  The customer then purchases the paper towel to use.  Once the paper towel has been used, the customer then evaluates if the purchase was worth it.  If it is bad, the customer may try another paper towel brand or if it was good, they'll buy it again.  Matt brought up a good point in class when he said a paper towel brand could be on sale.  That may compel a customer to try it because it is cheaper and if it works, they may switch brands because it was cheaper and works well.  Paper towel buying is an example of a routine purchase.  This means people put minimal thought into the purchase because there is low involvement, low cost, and the purchase is being done in a short period of time.  Other types of consumer behavior are limited and extensive.  Limited is right in the middle of routine and extensive.  Extensive purchases have a high involvement, high cost, and usually take a long period of time.  There is an internal and external information search as well.  An example of an extensive search would be purchasing a car.  Cars are expensive and people will take a lot of time looking into different car brands and types.

     Buyer behavior isn't only business to consumer, it's also business to business.  On Thursday we watched a Shark Tank episode on the product Buzzy.  Buzzy is a device that relieves pain from a shot.  The doctor selling it wanted to market it to consumers and businesses.  The Sharks disagreed and said she should market it only to care facilities.  In the case of Buzzy, this product would be sold to an institution.  In this case the institution is a hospital.  The purchase of Buzzy isn't for the hospital to make money.  It is to make children feel more comfortable getting a shot.  In purchasing this product a hospital is trying to achieve the goal of making a child feel more comfortable when getting a shot.  Buzzy is also subject to inelastic demand because even if the price fluctuates, the demand will not change.  The purchase volume of Buzzys probably won't be incredibly huge especially if they are being used in doctors office because it seemed like they could be reused so on any given day maybe 6 will be needed.  Buzzy is now manufactured in the USA which makes distribution of the product easier because it is now subject to domestic distribution processes and not international distribution.  It takes out an entire part of the distribution part which should keep costs low.  Businesses will typically buy products like Buzzy in a more formal manner.  These type of purchases are often done by professionals who can even earn the title Certified Purchasing Manager.  Businesses will buy Buzzy as accessory equipment so basically businesses will continue to buy Buzzy every year.  Buzzy is the kind of product that if it does its job, hospitals will continue to buy over and over again.

     Now that this week is over, I get to look forward to meeting with our engineering group next Thursday.  This week we worked outside of class to fill out the packet we got last week and decide on our design.  We setlled on the heated driveway and I think we have a very solid idea.