Figuring Out Buyer Behavior, Pt. 1
For this post, I interviewed three of my good friends. One was my roommate, one was my friend from Orlando, and the third was a friend who goes to UF. All three of these people have the same style and all three of them said that they recently threw away a shirt because it wore out in the wash.
Interview 1: First, I interviewed my friend from home in Orlando. I asked him about what specifically his need was. He said that the most important things that he looks at when buying a shirt are the quality and style. He said that he is willing to pay a little bit more for a good quality and stylish shirt. I asked him when he feel this need the most and he said that he experiences it most when he is shopping for clothes. He said that he hates shopping in stores because it takes so much time and he never finds anything to really fit his style preferences. He said that he has visited a Goodwill for thrifting once or twice, but for the most part he doesn't frequent these stores or ever find anything good there. In order to remedy this problem, he said he normally will take to Amazon or some other large online retailer, but then he finds that a lot of the time, although the shirts are his style, they aren't always the best quality.
Interview 2: I interviewed my roommate next. She said that her biggest craving is price and style, she wants cute shirts at a fraction of the cost. (She mentioned that she really wants one of those knock-off Gucci tees, but even they can be like $45). She said that quality is important to her too, but that she is the most focused on the aesthetic. She rationed that she can style a cheap shirt to make it look cute. In order to remedy her need, she says the first place she turns to is the thrift store. She said that she can normally find a few cute items if she visits a variety of different places and really digs deep. Sometimes, she resolves to purchasing a not so cute shirt and then cut it up and make it her own. She says that she does enjoy thrifting, but needs another alternative. She becomes most aware of the need for an alternative normally after a day thrifting. She will spend five hours out looking for clothes and only come back with 9-10 items she really likes, and even then sometimes she still has to sew and cut them to make them better.
Interview 3: The last person I interviewed was my friend from Orlando. She is a big concert-goer and literally only ever wears vintage-y tees. She says that she is always on the look out for new trendy tees as she tends to just wear the same ones over and over because she can't find any others that she likes. She said that style, price, and quality are all big issues to her when she is looking at shirts. She wants to find more t-shirts that actually fit her personality but doesn't want to have to spend a lot. She hates thrifting because she feels as if all the clothes aren't the best quality and that it takes way too long to actually find something she likes. She doesn't want to have to remodel t-shirts and becomes more apparent of her need for cute and trendy tees when the 10 she already owns are dirty or she wants to switch up her look. She normally tries to remedy her problem by shopping online on Amazon and then cutting them up later, but she isn't very good at styling or sewing so she can't make the shirts turn out like she wants them too. She also tries to purchase preowned clothes at thrift stores or even on eBay sometimes, but then she normally doesn't find much and thinks the quality is very poor.
Conclusion: This segment tends to try to style shirts on their own and likes to take the not-so-great tees from Amazon or thrift stores and cut them up to try to make them more aesthetic. They are the ones who are fans of the vintage feel but who don't care if their clothes are actually vintage. They just want something affordable and trendy to wear.
Interview 1: First, I interviewed my friend from home in Orlando. I asked him about what specifically his need was. He said that the most important things that he looks at when buying a shirt are the quality and style. He said that he is willing to pay a little bit more for a good quality and stylish shirt. I asked him when he feel this need the most and he said that he experiences it most when he is shopping for clothes. He said that he hates shopping in stores because it takes so much time and he never finds anything to really fit his style preferences. He said that he has visited a Goodwill for thrifting once or twice, but for the most part he doesn't frequent these stores or ever find anything good there. In order to remedy this problem, he said he normally will take to Amazon or some other large online retailer, but then he finds that a lot of the time, although the shirts are his style, they aren't always the best quality.
Interview 2: I interviewed my roommate next. She said that her biggest craving is price and style, she wants cute shirts at a fraction of the cost. (She mentioned that she really wants one of those knock-off Gucci tees, but even they can be like $45). She said that quality is important to her too, but that she is the most focused on the aesthetic. She rationed that she can style a cheap shirt to make it look cute. In order to remedy her need, she says the first place she turns to is the thrift store. She said that she can normally find a few cute items if she visits a variety of different places and really digs deep. Sometimes, she resolves to purchasing a not so cute shirt and then cut it up and make it her own. She says that she does enjoy thrifting, but needs another alternative. She becomes most aware of the need for an alternative normally after a day thrifting. She will spend five hours out looking for clothes and only come back with 9-10 items she really likes, and even then sometimes she still has to sew and cut them to make them better.
Interview 3: The last person I interviewed was my friend from Orlando. She is a big concert-goer and literally only ever wears vintage-y tees. She says that she is always on the look out for new trendy tees as she tends to just wear the same ones over and over because she can't find any others that she likes. She said that style, price, and quality are all big issues to her when she is looking at shirts. She wants to find more t-shirts that actually fit her personality but doesn't want to have to spend a lot. She hates thrifting because she feels as if all the clothes aren't the best quality and that it takes way too long to actually find something she likes. She doesn't want to have to remodel t-shirts and becomes more apparent of her need for cute and trendy tees when the 10 she already owns are dirty or she wants to switch up her look. She normally tries to remedy her problem by shopping online on Amazon and then cutting them up later, but she isn't very good at styling or sewing so she can't make the shirts turn out like she wants them too. She also tries to purchase preowned clothes at thrift stores or even on eBay sometimes, but then she normally doesn't find much and thinks the quality is very poor.
Conclusion: This segment tends to try to style shirts on their own and likes to take the not-so-great tees from Amazon or thrift stores and cut them up to try to make them more aesthetic. They are the ones who are fans of the vintage feel but who don't care if their clothes are actually vintage. They just want something affordable and trendy to wear.
I feel like nowadays most teenagers cut up their shirts to wear for game day or to wear to go to sleep. I think that teenagers do not want to the shirt to go to waster whether it does have style or not. People want to be trendy and want to wear whatever shirt fits their aesthetic. However, your idea of styling shirts would prevent ripping and tossing a shirt in need.
ReplyDeleteMorgan, great post. And Jake you make some good points to talk about in your comment. I agree with you that most teens these days probably are more willing to buy a cheap t-shirt and cut it up for bed or to wear out rather than spend a large amount of money on a pre-cut and pre-made t-shirt. But I think Morgan is going after a niche market that will help her to succeed.
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