Segment - Young students who live in U.S. coastal regions.
I interviewed three students from the University of Florida. All three agreed that plastic straws do pose a problem today. They all mentioned various places where they encounter this need; typically at restaurants, with one also being a straw-user at home. They all found that this need is usually encountered once or more per day. As I presented them with some data of the increasing issues of plastic pollution, two of them mentioned that the future of this need will increase.
One student said that to solve this need they had already tried reusable straws in the past, and found them annoying as they would get dirty or sticky, and they would be unable to clean the inside. The other two mentioned that they would simply choose to use straws less at home and in restaurants. I asked if they had ever sought to fill that need before, and two of them had searched online, the one having purchased a different reusable straw. It seemed that no company provided them with a full explanation of the importance of the product, as well as it often being highly priced in comparison to plastic straws.
I would describe this market segment of younger students as generally uninformed but passionate about solving environmental concerns. It seems the largest problem is market penetration and actually informing these students of how much an impact using reusable versus plastic straws can make. I would emphasize the words "reusable", "metal straw", and "plastic waste solutions" based on the responses of the interviewees.
Hello Steven,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your last sentence on the emphasized words. When I personally searched to buy my own I believe I googled reusable straws. Similar to the people you interviewed I felt it was very unsanitary because it was so difficult to clean. I also never received any information on how using the metal straw would help the environment.
Hi Steven,
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job retaining information from your interviews and thinking of words to emphasize to get your message across to your customers. Recently in restaurants I have noticed them using paper straws, which while good for the environment dissolve in the water over time and get soggy. My concern with metal straws at restaurants is if they sanitize them properly after a consumers use. Both the inside and the mouth pieces would have to be clean for people to feel comfortable putting their mouth where a strangers has been.