Assignment 12A: Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Segment: Young college adults with possible food allergy/sensitivity

·       Interviewees

o   #1: My brother-possibly lactose intolerance

o   #2: My roommate-possibly sensitive to the protein in milk

o   #3: My friend from high school-possible worsening allergy to gluten

Summarized Interviews:

For the interviews I asked questions that reflected on how they discovered they had an issue with certain food and how they plan to act. Listed below are a few of the questions I asked; ones that I think were most telling.

o   #1: My brother is potentially lactose intolerant, which means his body might not be able to break the sugars in milk.

§  When did you discover you had an issue with food? When I was in high school. I would have cheese on my sandwich and I would get a huge stomach ache, sometimes I would even get sick. Dairy products would always cause it.

§  What did you do about it? Originally, nothing. You know we do not eat cheese or dairy products in our house because you don’t like them. So, I thought I could deal with it because it would happen on few occasions.

§  Was there ever a time that it became a huge problem, one that you could not overlook? If so, what did you do about it then? Yeah, recently. I kind of figured my stomach aches had something to do with dairy products so I looked at WebMD and it confirmed my suspicions. And that was enough for me.

§  Why? Lauren, you had those tests done, you know how expensive they are. And they would just tell me something I already know. Even if it gets worse, all I really need to do is avoid dairy products, which is fine with me. Maybe if it was bad enough in high school I would have done something more about it.

§  What would have made this process better? Something cheap and does not involve seeing a ton of specialists. Also something fast.

o   #2: My roommate might have a sensitivity to the protein in milk. She gets the same stomach aches, like my brother, however the lactose intolerance aids do not help her.

§  When did you discover you had an issue with food? This probably came up last two years ago. I was getting stomach aches and digestive problems when I would eat cheese and yogurt. I figured that I might be lactose intolerant.

§  What did you do about it? One of my friends is lactose intolerant, so I asked them what they usually do. They gave me the lactase pills which are supposed to help your body break down the lactose sugar. I tried that for a bit, but it didn’t help.

§  Was there ever a time that it became a huge problem, one that you could not overlook? If so, what did you do about it then? Yeah, I started getting hives. I kind of figured that it wasn’t lactose that was the problem. So right now, I’m just staying away from dairy as best I can.

§  Why? I’m in my senior year of college and I’m so busy applying for jobs and internships. I really do not want to have to deal with doctor appointment upon doctor appointment and expense upon expensive. This is the cheapest way I know how to deal with things and besides the hives only affect me when I go overboard and I do not plan on doing that anytime soon.

§  What would have made this process better? Honestly, if I did something about it sooner and went to a professional. The problem is that once you think you have solved your issue you do not want to do anything more about it. If a doctor or professional could help you right then and there that would be awesome.

o   #3: My friend thinks that she may have a worsening allergy to gluten.

§  When did you discover you had an issue with food? Three years ago, I was starting to get stomach aches after eating pasta, bagels, pizza, etc.

§  What did you do about it? Well, my mom has celiac’s so I started eating gluten free like her and the pain stopped. Occasionally, like if I was with friends or at a party, I would eat gluten filled foods. The gluten free stuff is expensive. And at that time the stomach aches felt like the stomach aches you get when you overeat.

§  Was there ever a time that it became a huge problem, one that you could not overlook? If so, what did you do about it then? Maybe a year ago I started getting really bad stomach aches. In the past few weeks I noticed that l get really sluggish and tired. The thought of food makes me nauseous sometimes. Well now I completely avoid gluten because I do not want to feel that way again. I might see a GI after college or during the summer to see if it is getting better.

§  Why? I want to wait to see a GI because I have a lot going on right now. Junior year is a hectic year. 

§  What would have made this process better? I kind of wish I looked into this more during my senior year of high school. I had to get a lot of immunizations and shots for college back then. It would have made sense to do something about the stomach aches then too.

What I Learned:

            I learned from these interviews that seeing a doctor regarding food allergies or sensitivities during college years might be difficult. Because the three interviewees had a lot of school work to do, they did not want to waste time trying to find a specialist in their area, schedule an appointment, get the test done, and then meet the doctor for a follow up. They all pretty much agreed that they needed either something fast and not expensive or an earlier intervention.

I also discovered that these interviewees were affected by worsening symptoms over a couple years. I know a couple of my comments in past assignments said that maybe the food panel tests should be offered multiple times. This could have helped each of my interviewees.

            Something that I thought was interesting was that the three, especially my brother, did not want to take the time to see a specialist when they thought they had figured out what was wrong with them. Because they could not get a fast, accurate answer to their problem, they decided to take matters into their own hands and basically WebMD their symptoms. They felt as though this and simply avoiding the foods that were causing them pain would be enough to help. This is something I need to take into consideration especially for the older age group of my target market.

Describing the Segment:

            After interviewing these people, I think the college aged segment is a very hard segment to hit. It can be done; however, some students are pressed for time and have many things going on (clubs, sports, job searches, homework). If something is bothering them they are going to try to find the quickest and sometimes cheapest answer to their problem, especially if the issue is not life threatening. Freshman or after senior year of college would probably be the better years for students to take advantage of food panel tests. It is the beginning and ending of schoolwork and the time commitment may not be as great as in the middle two years. Also, they are starting a new chapter of their lives, so finding new doctors or making doctor’s appointments are more important at this time.

 (The three interviewees had possible food sensitivities that they never had tested, so if they actually had severe symptoms or allergies, this would have been a different conversation.)