15A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

1. For this exercise I decided to interview 3 different undergraduate students as my chosen segment. The first two students were located around Hume Hall as I found and interviewed them as they were leaving the building, and the last was a freshman from Jennings Hall that I bumped into.

3. My main focus of these interviews was to determine how customers choose between alternatives. I asked questions relating to price, location, alternative choices, style, and what factors were must important to them. The first student that I interviewed was a freshman chemical engineering student living at Hume Hall. She currently has a car on campus. After interviewing her, I discovered that she probably would not be the best fit for my product when it comes to finding more permanent / overnight parking as opposed to temporary parking. She said that she does not have that much difficulty finding parking since the communal lot is very close to where she is, and that it is only a short walk for her to get to her car. She also stated that she would not need to utilize my service because she has never been placed in a situation where she was unable to find parking. I guess this would be an example of price and location alternative. She would not need my service because her location is relatively close to a free parking spot, and therefore it would not make any sense for her to pay for a parking spot that is much farther away from her. The second student that I interviewed was a sophomore living in Hume Hall and rode a scooter. He said that he probably would not utilize the service I provide because the Scooter is much more efficient for him, especially since he already went out of his way an purchased it. However, relating to price alternatives, offering students affordable parking would make it so that they would not have to buy a scooter that would cost at least a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars, and cheaper prices would attract more potential buyers.
The third student that I interview was a sophomore computer science student. He currently uses a car on campus as well. When it comes to price alternatives, he said that if the price was low enough, that he would probably be willing to purchase a parking spot because it would save him money as the amount he has to pay for parking tickets would far exceed the price paid for parking. The location would also be beneficial to him.

4. After conducting the three interviews, all three students came to the similar conclusion that it would be most beneficial if students were able to buy these upgraded parking passes online. After their purchase, they would either have to go to an office to pick up a tag solidifying their parking abilities or have it mailed to them.

5. These students all found that to be satisfied with their purchase, if they were to consider making the purchase, they would want to make sure that it was making their lives easier. If they are able to continue using their cars on campus and not have the same difficulties parking then they would be satisfied with their purchase. The second student interviewed also made a good point being that one potential issue lies in the fact that if many people see my service as appealing, it may attract a lot of potential customers and over saturate the market, then again creating the same issue I set out to fix.

7. After all of my interviews, I came up with some conclusions. Firstly, my idea that parking is an issue at UF and something needs to be done about it was solidified. However, one thing that crept up that I really had not thought about too thoroughly was the potential of having an over saturated market, recreating the same problem I am attempting to alleviate. To make sure that this does not happen, I will have to take some measures, possibly setting up a certain price level barrier, to assure that this problem does not arise.