Assignment 9A: Testing the Hypothesis Part 2

o  Who: After conducting my first set of interviews in Assignment 7, I was able to better understand my target market. I realized that the male demographic did not have much need for my product, unless they were purchasing it for a girlfriend, wife, or daughter. I interviewed a male UF junior student who goes out to bars/clubs very frequently and he stated that the odds of a male, his age, getting sexually assaulted/kidnapped would be very slim. This really provided me with insight as to how the age of the demographic plays a role in whether they would buy the product, as men tend to seem as if they can take care of themselves. I also interviewed a UF male sophomore student, who is a member of a fraternity here on campus, to gain the insight of an individual currently involved and experiencing first-hand the protests surrounding the lack of blue-lights on Fraternity Row that makes students feel unsafe. He stated that he can understand the nature of the need and the importance of my product, but again doesn’t think the problem is as applicable to men as it is to women. When asked if he would be likely to purchase the product for his girlfriend, he said “no” because he is with her most of the time and he would be sure to protect her if anything were to happen. 

o   After interviewing two male UF students, I wanted to interview another demographic that did not entirely fit my target market: the elderly. While products like the Life Alert already exist, there is certainly a growing problem surrounding elderly abuse and people taking advantage of them as they know they are vulnerable. I interviewed both an elderly male (age 73) and an elderly female (age 71) that live in my neighborhood as to whether or not they feel the need is applicable to them. They understand the growing incidents surrounding elderly abuse, but again at their age they are not really worried about getting kidnapped or sexually assaulted. The female did state that if she were much younger, she definitely would be interested in the product as she is aware of the safety concerns that young women face in today’s world. The elderly male agreed as well, stating that he would have been likely to purchase the product for his daughter or granddaughter and sees it being useful for young women looking for a product that makes them worry less about their safety.

o   The final question I had surrounding my product was whether it would be needed by middle-age women so I decided to interview both a single female (age 44) with no significant other or children and also a married female (age 52) with no children. The first interviewee (age 44) stated that she actually would be interested in the product because since she is single and does not have children, she often worries as to who would come to her rescue if something were to happen to her. This didn’t really surprise me because I have started to notice how this need arises somewhat from loneliness and the uncertainty as to what would happen to them if they were to face the problem. The second interviewee who is married also said that she would be interested in the product, which surprised me as I had not thought married women to be in the demographic. She stated that women today have to be especially careful at all ages as they have to worry about getting abducted, robbed, raped, or even murdered. My product would provide peace-of-mind and could be the difference between life/death when put into a dangerous situation.

o   What: After conducting all of these interviews, I think the point where the need/reassurance for safety begins to change is the nature of the crime. At the end of the day, the product that I have introduced seems to only really be effective in cases of kidnapping/abduction, perhaps even sexual assault. Once we start going further than that and looking at robbery, battery, or physical assault, the need begins to change as those are faster pace crimes and my product wouldn’t address that need as well. There is also no guarantee that my product will diminish kidnapping/abduction/sexual assault rates, as criminals will continue to act and there could be a point in time where they just adjust their strategy/actions to reflect the introduction of my product.

o   Why: I think that there is an underlying cause of the outsiders’ need being different than the people inside the boundary being that they feel they can take care of themselves or feel protected in a relationship/marriage. The need arises from lacking assurance of being safe/feeling unsafe and the key difference between the people inside the boundary and outside the boundary is their individual sense of loneliness and helplessness if something were to happen. You could even go on to say that another cause is the individual’s own perceptions as to how likely they would be to face the problem. Some people are skeptical of believing that they could experience a crime as serious as abduction/sexual assault and thus do not feel the product will be as valuable for them.

	Inside Boundary	Outside Boundary
Who:	Female college students Single, young women that feel lonely/unsafe living by themselves Fathers/Mothers of young children/college students	Female college students in a relationship Young women in a relationship that live with their partner/significant other Men/Women without young children/college students
What:	To reduce abduction/sexual assault rates	To completely eliminate sexual assaults or reduce rates of other types of crime
Why:	People feel unsafe living by themselves Growing rates of crime geared towards women/children Lack of anti-abduction/sexual assault prevention products	People not taking proper precautions living by themselves People not being aware of their surroundings in public Demand/Profitability may not be high in this industry