LWC_Trip Report Guide – winter 2009

Consumer’s first name: Patricia
Date: 2/9/09
This report filed by: Miguel Sanchez & Katie

1) Describe your consumer in detail…
Patricia is a 62 year old, African American mother and grandmother. She is married with three adult children and has many grandchildren. She worked in various call centers before getting laid off. She now works a variety of part time temp assignments and is taking a medical billing/coding class. She owns a cat and two fish and likes to read and watch movies.

2) What did you find interesting or enlightening about the way this household acquires and uses products?
Like many consumers today, Patricia is on a limited budget and lives in a small single story apartment. She buys items only when she needs them and may simply walk out of a store if the items are priced above what she considers a reasonable price. Patricia sticks to name brands that she trusts and is willing to pay more for them. The scent of a product and its quality are her main determining factors in choosing between brands of similar price.

3) What does this person know, feel, and do in the way of recycling or other “sustainable” behaviors?
She knows very little. She knows of recycling programs but feels it is not her responsibility to be proactive towards the environment. She believes companies bare the brunt of the responsibility. She will participate when told to do so, but only if it is convenient and inexpensive. She takes her fiber goods (magazines, newspapers, etc.) to the local library to be recycled.

4) Other BIG insights I have right now that are important for my team:
Once again, this 50+ consumer is primarily concerned with the cost of activities more than the environmental implications. The scent and name brands are also very important to the consumer. She would be willing to use a refill system if saves her money. Also, she would be more likely to refill cleaning products and cat food over normal food products.

5) Something I heard or saw in this visit that was totally unexpected:
She does not believe that a two person household contributes much to environmental issues and thus sees no real incentive to participate in sustainable efforts.
The scent of a product was almost as important as price to this consumer. She was aware of what a certain product should cost and if it varied from store to store she would not purchase it if it was too high.