12A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

The segment I have chosen is people who live in an area affected by a plastic ban, specifically from my hometown that has officially banned single-use plastic bags and straws, and within that, high schoolers and adults who frequent the downtown coffee shops and grocery stores.

I interviewed 3 people from my town, a high school student, a college student who is currently away at school, and an adult resident. I was hesitant to interview the college student as she is not home often, but I chose to anyway because she would be impacted whenever she returned home, and I found out her college town was also impacted by the ban.

For the high school student's interview, I asked if she was currently aware of the new plastic ban on the town and if she has personally taken any actions to assimilate with the change. She said she was not actually aware of the ban but did notice that our local coffee shops had paper straws all of a sudden and was wondering why they changed. She told me how much she hated the paper straws which she would end up with every morning when she got an iced coffee on the way to school. She has not taken any actions to bring her own straws as she doesn't want to pay $30 for a reusable straw and finds them difficult to clean. She currently does not have a concern about plastic bags as she is not the one who grocery shops in her family. I also asked her what she has been doing to find a solution to the paper straw issue she had discovered on her own and she said her current solution has been to remove the paper straw once it was no longer useful and would have to take the lid off of her drink and finish it drinking from the cup. As for her move to information search, she only googled reusable straws which led to either expensive reusable options or ones made in china, most likely in unfair working conditions. She did not seem to think of searching for single-use straw replacements.

For the college student's interview, I was curious to see how the ban impacted her home life and her college life. She said at home she occasionally would grocery shop and try to be proactive with reusable bags before the ban was ever in place but she has not experienced the ban in its entirety at home. At school, on the other hand, she explained to me how the paper bag solution that her grocery store has in place is frustrating to her because she has to take the bus home from the grocery store and the condensation of the cold items in the bag make the bags soggy and weak. She doesn't always remember reusable bags and since she does not have a car she can't just keep them in her method of transportation. She also said her school's coffee shop has implemented the paper straws and while she does not go often, she thinks the paper straws are wasteful because she usually ends up using 2. I asked her what she has been doing as a solution to combat the ban and paper products and she said: "being completely honest I've done nothing I've just been rolling with it and hoping something will get better."

The third person I interviewed was actually my mom. She hates the clump of plastic bags we have in our house but she equally hates paper bags ripping because the handles aren't strong enough. She doesn't really ever drink anything besides water so she rarely needs a straw, which leaves the main focus on the plastic bags. Since this ban has been instated, she has struggled to remember to bring reusable bags, and although she keeps them in her car, she usually forgets to bring them into grocery stores and doesn't realize she left them until she's practically at the register. She said she hasn't looked into solutions and shes accepted her fate would be either paper bags or hopefully remembering to bring one.

From what I gathered from the interviews, I now know people in this segment are not actively looking for solutions to the ban, rather they are just using whatever is provided by the local businesses. I would say this segment is aware of their need, but they lack on information search. I think instead of targeting individual consumers in the end, I should focus more on targeting the local businesses since the consumers don’t want a change they need to take part in, they want it provided to them.