Running Case: TSL | Buyers Aren't All the Same Chloe Obico was standing by the checkout line at the local Sprouts supermarket in Los Angeles. She was trying to get a better sense of how customers purchased snack bars, so she had come to the supermarket on a Saturday morning to talk to some shoppers. After getting permission from the store manager to talk to customers, she stationed herself near one of the checkout lines and watched the belt intently to find a shopper who had purchased snack bars so she could ask some questions. Several shoppers had checked out since she arrived, but none had actually purchased bars yet, though many had purchased other snack items. However, it looked like her luck was changing as she watched a line of groceries being scanned that included three snack bars. The snack bars were all different brands, and though she wasn't tracking other purchases, she noticed a variety of different brands in the generally healthy shopping cart. The shopper was a man, mid-40s she guessed, who looked fit and was wearing clothes that suggested he had either just come from the gym or was headed there later. Wiley PLUS Running Case Study Video This Saves Lives, Chapter 4: Founders Discuss How Customer Behaviors Affect Marketing Decisions Chloe: Excuse me. I noticed you purchased snack bars. I am doing some research on why people buy certain snacks and wondered if I could ask you a few quick questions about your choices. Customer 1: Sure, as long as it doesn't take too long. I have to drop my groceries by the apartment before I meet my friend for racquetball in a bit. Chloe: No problem, I just have three questions. First, I see you bought three different bars. Why those three? Customer 1: Well, I generally try different bars. I keep a couple in my gym bag or locker so I have something quick before or after I go to the gym, or just in case I don't have time to sit and eat something. Chloe: Do you have a favorite brand or specific flavor you like best? Customer 1: No, not really. I used to check bars pretty carefully to make sure they had good ingre- dients, but now most of the popular ones here have similar ingredients. I really try different bars trying to find some that taste better. Most of them aren't that great, but since it's just a quick bite I don't worry too much about it. Some are definitely better than others, but I haven't really found one that wowed me. So I just try three or four different ones each time for variety. Chloe: Okay, last question. How much do you spend typically on bars when you buy them? Customer 1: Hmmm. I guess I don't really know. I guess they are about two bucks or so each, but I don't worry too much about the price. Gotta have my protein snacks. (He looks at his receipt.) I did better than I thought. One was only a dollar. One was a dollar and a half. The other one was more expensive... about $2.50. Chloe: Thanks for your time. Chloe: I see you bought five bars, and they are all the same brand and flavor. Why those bars? Customer 2: We've tried a couple of different ones and they are mostly the same. These were on sale, $5 for five bars, and both of us (she smiled at her son) like these. Chloe: Do you have a favorite brand or specific flavor you like best? Customer 2: No, not really. I just look for which ones are on sale and then we select the flavor we like best. Makes it easy. I especially look for sales that include more bars so I don't have to buy them as frequently. We each eat a couple of bars a week. Not my husband, though. He doesn't like them and doesn't snack much. We switch around some, but like the bars with fruit more than nuts. Chloe: Okay, last question. How much do you spend typically on bars when you buy them? Customer 2: Well, like I said, these are five for $5. It is a good sale here, so I might spend a little more sometimes. Maybe $1.25 or so. I try to keep it under $1.50 per bar. I would spend as much as $2 or a little more per bar if it tasted good, was healthy, and we both really liked them, but would only do that every once in a while as a treat. I wouldn't do it all the time, but it is fun when we find one, so we like to spend a little more sometimes. Chloe: Okay, thanks for your time. So now Chloe had a second customer's input on what and why they purchased snack bars. This cus- tomer had different motives and also seemed to care much more about price. She looked for sales and seemed to watch how much she spent in total, though she did acknowledge that occasionally she would spend more if she and her son both liked a particular bar a lot. Chloe wondered if Customer 2 was some- one who could be encouraged to try a TSL bar, and if so what would it take to get her to try them? Could Customer 2 be convinced to buy their bars regularly? Chloe felt she now had a better perspective on their potential customers, but now the hard part would be to develop a marketing strategy that would work. Running Case Questions: 1. How is the buying behavior of the two customers similar, and how is it different? 2. From a marketing perspective, how could TSL use the information gained from talking to the two customers? 3. Could TSL treat both customers the same, or would they have to have a different marketing strategy for each? Explain. 4. Which of these customers do you think is most likely to buy a TSL bar? Which is the least likely to buy one? What makes you think so? 5. From what you learned in this chapter, which influences on buyer behavior can you identify as most critical in influencing each customer to make a purchase? 6. Chloe chose to talk to customers after they had actually put bars in the cart. Should she have talked to customers who bought other snacks? Why/why not?