Team 2 Report

Understanding Customer Behaviour/RO230/Setälä

Laurea University of Applied Sciences 18.11.2018

Identifying Potential Customers and Creating

Personas
Team 2 Report
Understanding Customer Behaviour/RO230/Setälä

Laurea University of Applied Sciences 18.11.2018

Table of Contents
1 Preview......................................................................................................................... 3
2 Finnish market analysis...................................................................................................... 3
3 Identifying potential end users.............................................................................................. 4
3.1 Focus group research................................................................................................ 5
4 Market entry strategy........................................................................................................ 7
5 Team work evaluation........................................................................................................ 9
Appendices..........................................................................................................................11

References.............................................................................................................................
Team 2 Report
Understanding Customer Behaviour/RO230/Setälä

Laurea University of Applied Sciences 18.11.2018

1 Introduction

For out project we have chosen LIDL and K-City market where you can buy anything
you need for your households. We have chosen these two because we want to see
the customers’ buying behaviour and another reason is both of the company is
biggest grocery shop in Finland and they are strong competitor to each other. Both
of the companies offer different quality with different price level of products such
as food, cloth, toys, shoes and electronics and their target customer are everyone
living in Finland. The purpose of the project is to identify potential customer in
Helsinki and to create personas of the end users and finally come up with new
findings that might be helpful for the companies. We have segmented our report in
different chapters:

1. Market analysis:

a) Data collection by observing and interviewing customers in LIDL and K-City

market in Vantaa.

b) colleting net sales and overview of both companies by online research from
www.statista.com

2. Focus group research and analysis:

a) Data collection process will be discussed here

b) based on the data personas will be created.

3. Findings

a) we will find the customer journey and will try to see the either theories agree
with the customer buying behaviour or not.

2 Finnish market analysis

2.1. Analysing the key players

3 Methodology, focus group research and analysis

As we are studying potential Customers and creating Personas of LIDL and K-market
in different locations. This type of study type requires to give meaning of the
events with the help of the people who is explaining a situation and result is fully
depend on their experiences (Bogdan and Biklen 2003). Our project needs to be
studied in qualitative method where it is exploratory, explanatory, and descriptive
than in research using quantitative methods (Freebody 2003). For this project we
have decided to use case study method because we are going to observe and
investigate ten typical customers which can be treated as ten case studies. The
pool of participants will present their consuming behaviour throughout the journey.
It will tell us which area to be focused on research problem rather than exploring
the subject and it creates theories from the collected data (Bogdan and Biklen
2003). We have observed random customer in LIDL and K market, and we have
conducted a semi-structured interview, it is frequently used in qualitative study
(Bogden and Biklen 2003). The interview takes about 10 to 15 minutes. Interviews
helps to “gather descriptive data in the subject’s own words so that the researcher
can develop insights on how subjects interpret some piece of the world” (Bogdan
Team 2 Report
Understanding Customer Behaviour/RO230/Setälä

Laurea University of Applied Sciences 18.11.2018

and Biklen 2003). For analysing data we have followed the process where there is
transcript of interview, reviewing interview transcripts and organizing data. After
collecting the data, we have made the transcript. The guideline for the
transcription needs to be decided before the process and it requires decision
making (Freebody 2003).

3.1 Focus group research

Determining focus group is important for this project because based on it we have
targeted our observed and interviewed customers. We have chosen five females and
five males because to get different viewpoint. We have open chosen customer age
limit because in grocery shop almost everyone comes to buys necessary stuffs. We
have tried to focus on unemployed to retired person to see the spending behaviour
and finally we have used education level as this project is written in English and we
cannot speak Finnish, so it is convenient for us to conduct interview in English.

To create personas, we have decided to observe ten customers at different grocery

shops and we have interviewed the same persons that has been observed for inter-
viewing we have used interview guide which is given below and full form of inter-
view guide is available in appendix A.
1. Are you living your family?
2. Do you have kids and if so, how many?
3. How often do you buy groceries?
4. why do you shop from here?
5. how much money do you spend here in a month?
6. how long do you stay here?
7. what items do you buy? Can you explain in detail?
8. Does advertising on print or social media effect on you?
9. Please explain how do you feel when good price increase?
10. How satisfy are you with your buying decision from this shop?
11. Do you buy eco-friendly products? Why?

We have also asked them about their education, gender and age.

3.2 Analysis

We have analysed the interview script and create personas:

PERSONA 1 is 45 years old guy lives with family and have two kids who are school
going student. He purchases grocery from LIDL because it is near to his house, he
can decide what he need because everything is in the display with price and usually
but in the beginning of the month and sometimes in between weeks when it is ne-
cessary. Generally he buys food, vegetables, milk and cleaning equipment from
here, if the price rise he stop buying stuffs and wait for getting price low. It de-
pends on how much he is going to spend in a month. He is price sensitive and love
to see the promotions in social media and during the promotion he purchases more.
He is price sensitive and environment friendly but he thinks it is not necessary to
eco-friendly product.

PERSONA 2 is a 63years old lady who lives with her husband and she is a retired
person. She goes to LIDL to buy groceries, kitchen, cleaning equipment with her
husband and spend around 1000 euro per month. She goes to other market too due
to brand products. She is found of LIDL because it is cheaper than other stores and
it is near to her house, she knows the prices of her listed goods and sales personnel
knows her, so she gets help to find product. She likes pro option in print and social
media and when prices go up, she buys only necessary goods. She does not think
about eco-friendly products.
Team 2 Report
Understanding Customer Behaviour/RO230/Setälä

Laurea University of Applied Sciences 18.11.2018

Persona 3 is 29 years old student lives with her girlfriend. He goes to LIDL because
he thinks it is the second cheapest store in the town and it is near to his residence.
As he is doing a part-time job so that he does not have so much budget as he spends
350euro per month in LIDL. He also likes the promotional offerings in social media
and wait for it. He never experiences of price going high in this store. As a masters
student he want to save some money so he buys cheap stuff and does not buy eco-
friendly products.

PERSONA 4: Female, 24, student doing part-time job. She not only buys stuff from
LIDL but also buy from other stores. She comes to LIDL because it is near and staffs
are caring, and she buys kitchen stuff and food. In total she spends 1000 euro from
different stores. When price goes up, she goes to other shops and enjoy advertise-
ment of discounts and also love to use new stuff. She love to have eco-friendly
products which can save our planet.

PERSONA 5 is a 43 years old female teacher who is not eco-friendly. She lives with
her husband and 3 children and spends 1500 euro in LIDL. She and her husband do
the shopping and they buy vegetables, beverages, dairy, deserts, clothing, drinks,
fruit, baking items. LIDL is convenient for them because it is situated on their way
home and they don’t have time to visit other stores so if prices go up, they buy
those things, but price does not go up. She has positive feelings toward advertise-
ment in social and print media.

Persona 6 is 57years old male living in Vantaa for 8 years with wife. He always come
to LIDL but his wife daily other stores while she is coming home from office and
they spend 1000-1200euro per month. His wife is price sensitive, while price raises,
she checks other stores and buy where it is cheaper. He loves to buy households
from here because it is closer and cheaper.

Persona 7 is 35 years old female live with her family. She is buying all kind of gro-
cery from k-market. Advertisement is useful, when price raises, she buys necessary
stuff and wait for promotion.

Persona 8 is 23 years old student who lives his family and spend 200 euro in k-Mar-
ket. He buys from here because it is convenient to come, and it is cheaper. He also
likes to know about products from advertisement. He finds alternative foods/
products when price is higher.

Persona 9 is 69years old lady who lives with her husband and her two children live
in abroad. She spends 1000euro for buying kitchen household, food items. K-market
is cheaper, and it is easy to come here. She loves to buy low price product when
price raise, she looks for the price of other stores and wait for advertisement. She
is not aware of ecological products.

Finally, persona 10 is 41years working man having master’s degree and live with
family. He does not come to K-market on a regular basis, but he likes this place due
to cheap price, it is near to home and here is everything whatever he needs. He
mainly buys kitchen stuff and food from here. He enjoys seeing the advertisement
for get updated and he does not bother about ecological product.

By creating these personas, we have an idea why both of the markets are prefer-
able, which products are poplar. Both market can get information about their posi-
tion to customers and in which area they need to focus more to promote products
or information.
Team 2 Report
Understanding Customer Behaviour/RO230/Setälä

Laurea University of Applied Sciences 18.11.2018

4 Findings

From our interview transcript we are able to make a typical customer buying beha-
viour. Typically, a customer finds out his or her needs for example most of the
cases the need is food, vegetable, kitchen and cleaning stuff. Then the customer
looking for the place where to buy in our case, they go to LIDL and K-Market which
is closer to their residence. While this buying journey, family member such as wife,
husband and girlfriend influence them to buy which food need to buy. Social media
also play a vital play get the information of promotional offerings, they look for
promotional information and also buy in according with it also, most of the time
buy more stuff. Our customer is price sensitive, enjoys spending less and to get
more stuff, while price raises, sometimes buy the necessary stuff but most of the
time look for alternative solution. This is how our typical customer buys stuff.

Munthiu (2009) described consumer buying behaviour model in her article. Model
consists of five steps. In the first stage people try to identify problems/ need. This
occurs when internal stimuli crave for the basic needs, basic needs are described by
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model, here basic needs could be hunger, thirst or sex,
etc. need recognition could be lack of food stock in home, information about new
products. When customer recognize needs then customer start looking for informa-
tion of future buying goods receptive, information could be collected by going to
shops or actively looking for information from reading materials, discussing with
friends and family and searching from internet. Here customer uses both internal
and external search. After gathering information customer try to select the best
option. They select on the basis of importance of goods, cost and urgency of goods.
Now based on above mentioned criteria customer decide what should buy by spend-
ing how much money. It is depending on the value of item, if the value is higher, it
is not purchasing frequently and if value is lower, then consumers tends to buy it
frequently. For instance, milk, rice, vegetables people purchase often but mobile
phone purchase once in one or two years. After purchasing customer use products,
when products meet customer expectation, customer become delighted and when
expectation does not meet customer becomes dissatisfied.
Jisana (2014) added more that buying behaviour model could be extended to eco-
nomic m578odel of consumer behaviour. This model depicts that customer buying
behaviour tells that consumer enjoys benefits by paying less amount. This model
carries two important information: consumer's purchasing power and the price of
competitive products. For example, customer will purchase a similar product which
cost minimum. When consumer’s purchasing power increases, it will allow him to
buy more and more.

To conclude, our typical customer buying behaviour process does match with Mun-
thui (2009) and Jisana (2014). Our typical customer first recognizes need then look
for information from social media or print media den decide what to buy then make
consumption. They also love to buy cheaper products.

5 Team work evaluation

Our team was truly international. This proved to be an advantage, especially when
discussing different market entry strategies. Since the beginning of this semester
our team cooperated very well, and all members were contributing to the research
conducted. The friendly and working atmosphere made this learning experience so
much better. The team members tried to adjust to each other´s different schedules
when arranging the team meetings. In case the proposed timing was not working for
all, the team would arrange an online meeting or a group chat via team group on
Facebook.
Team 2 Report
Understanding Customer Behaviour/RO230/Setälä

Laurea University of Applied Sciences 18.11.2018

NB: Due to justified reason of giving birth 😊, the fifth member of our team Kätlin
Tammiksalu will not be presenting the project results with the rest of the team.
She has been a valuable and active member of our team throughout the process and
we are all wishing her the best.

References
Bogdan, R., & Biklen, S. K. 2003. Qualitative research for education: an introduction to theory and
method. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Freebody, P. 2003. Qualitative research in education: interaction and practice. London: Sage.
Team 2 Report
Understanding Customer Behaviour/RO230/Setälä

Laurea University of Applied Sciences 18.11.2018

Electronic sources

Munthiu, M. (2009). The buying decision process and types of buying decision beha-
viour. Sibiu Alma Mater University Journals. Series A. Economic Sciences,2(4), 27-
33. Accessed 12 May 2019.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f2d3/36232b0b67e046f38ac01c70df0f9c0dbd07.p
df.

Jisana, T. K. 2014. Consumer Behaviour Model: An Overview. Sai Om Journal of

Commerence and Management,1(5), 34-43. Accessed 12 May 2019.
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?
doi=10.1.1.916.4415&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Appendix 1: First appendix