Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

    Over the last few days, I decided to conduct further interviews with some people within my target segment for my online textbook platform. Since the target segment I had selected was college students, I interviews three students who are all in different years and majors at the University of Florida. I interviewed Vincent Castellano who is a fourth year accounting student, Boone Pham who is a second year biomedical engineering student, and Krishi Patel, an MBA student. I chose these three students because I wanted a sample of students across multiple demographics such as gender, age, and area of study.

      Each of the interviews lasted about fifteen minutes and they focused on two primary topics: the general description of when they encounter a need for cheaper textbook access and what they do to gather information regarding a solution to this issue. What I was able to summarize from all three students was that typically, they encounter the need for cheaper textbooks at the beginning of every new semester. This is when they get assigned their new required textbooks and have to debate whether they are going to spend hundreds of dollars on books or try and get by without the books. The students told me that every time a textbook is assigned, they would check the price of the book at the UF bookstore and realize it is way too expensive to purchase or even rent in some occasions. Once the students have encountered the problem, the next step is to Google the cheapest option for that textbook online. Usually Amazon or Ebay will have a cheaper alternative that is usually half the price that the bookstore sells the books for. The students make sure that it is the same edition or the closest edition of the actually assigned textbook and then purchase it. The decision to buy the cheapest alternative is usually made by the students themselves and there is no external consultation from parents or friends unless they are debating just not buying a book at all.
   
     My biggest conclusion about this target segment of college students is that they are able to acutely assess the fact that they should not have to pay exorbitant prices for textbooks. They look for cheaper alternatives and have been successful in finding cheaper options to their textbooks from other vendors but there still is no perfectly cheap and convenient alternative in my opinion even now. When relying on companies like Amazon to deliver the books, students often have to spend the first few weeks of classes without their books. Even some of the online prices are relatively expensive even though it is marginally cheaper than the university's bookstore. Therefore, the opportunity I found to provide an online platform with cheap textbook access is very much present and must be exploited.