Thinking Like a Shopper

Posted by Lorren on July 5, 2010

When you don’t have a great deal of disposable income to deal with, you don’t do a lot of shopping. I tend to be frugal with the money that I do have, and don’t buy a lot of stuff.

In hopes of making more money, I’ve started to concentrate on selling more products. It can be somewhat difficult to put myself in a shopper’s shoes when I don’t shop much myself. Why do people buy what they do?

My grandma gave me some money for my birthday, and I used it as an opportunity to think like a shopper. How do I best spend my money?

First, I had to decide what I wanted. It’s not often that I have a lot of money to spend (I used to, but that was when I had a different career). After a couple of days, I remember a book that I had seen at the beginning of the year, Journal 10+. My mother-in-law bought me a journal for Christmas, but it was almost full, so I’d need a new one. I liked the idea of being able to look back to see what you were doing a year ago on the same date. So I decided to pick that up.

I eventually decided to buy an exercise bike with the rest of my money. I had thought about getting one before, but they can be pretty expensive, and I had never had that kind of money (and I don’t get gifts that cost that much either, normally). I wanted to make sure that I bought the right one though. I compared prices, viewed ratings for different models, and realized that some people have complaints that some of the bikes are not very good for short people.

I finally ended up going to Sports Authority and to the mall to buy the bike. I tried the bike at Sports Authority, but it was a hair over what I wanted to pay. It was on sale for $170 off though, so I’d actually be getting a bike worth more than $300. I went to Sears, but they only had one bike in my price range, and it didn’t have the features that the Sports Authority bike did. Convinced that the first bike I tested would be the best deal, I ended up picking that one up.

Along the way, I passed tons of products that some people would want, and that I might like on a different day; I wasn’t interested in those products, because I knew what I wanted. I passed a salesperson who wanted to sell something to me from a kiosk, but that was not what I wanted.

I realized a couple of things on my trip. That people’s needs can range from basic and inexpensive, to full-featured and pricey. The bike that I got was not one of the cheapest that you could find; when comparing bikes I realized that the cheapest bikes were not high quality. I didn’t need a professional machine either, although a professional athlete or gym owner might want one.

The other thing that I realized was that you may offer someone excellent products, but if that is not what they are looking for, you will have a harder time getting them interested. People with little money and who have their sights set on one item will not be deterred at all. On another day, I might have the need to buy a nice pan, or a tent, but that was not what I wanted on the day I was shopping. You have to find the person when they want your product (or they have to find you).