Consumer Behavior Exercise E

Interview Report on Consumers Usage & Experience of a $120 Dehumidifier

By Jessica MH Cheng 2011-10-28

This report is written by Jessica MH Cheng, from Baruch CUNY TPINTAKE 16 and for the course of Consumer Behavior, instructed by Dr. Malcolm Smith.

Consumers Need and Problem Mrs. X, living in the areas with high humidity, had been bothering by the damp feeling in her apartment. She decided to purchase a dehumidifier to make her apartment dry and keep the level of bacteria or mold, possibly induced by high humidity in air, as low as possible at home for the sake of health concern.

Brand Perception and Preference Mrs. Xs household income is classified into a middle class, and has preferences for Japanese brands in terms of home appliances products over local Taiwanese brands due to Taiwanese consumers perceive local-brand products, normally made in China, low in quality and reliability. Mrs. X was originally going for a Japanese brand, however, she found that no dehumidifier made by Japanese brands offered a must-have feature for Mrs. Lee in the market.

Weighted Product Feature vs. Brand Preference The product with daily dehumidifying capacity of 6-8 liters normally weights more than 10kg, which is heavy for a housewife like Mrs. X, who has spine and knees problem, to carry a dehumidifier from one room to another room to perform dehumidifying function, nor does it make sense to purchase several units to place in each room. So the product mobility with rotating wheels installed becomes a weighted factor for consumers like Mrs. X when purchasing dehumidifiers. After online research, Mrs. X finally found the only one local brand product with strong mobility and ordered directly from a web store, who offers free deliver service to customers, instead of visiting a physical store to buy and carry it home by herself.
Case Report: Consumer Behavior Exercise E Name: Jessica MH Cheng

Satisfied Post Purchase Experience Turned to be a Nightmare During the first year, Mrs. X was satisfied about the product function and the benefits come with mobility feature. After one-years intensive usage, the product started exhibiting a problem the function of directing drained water to the tank failed thus led certain amount of water flow to the outside of the tank and caused the leaking to the floor. This was the nightmare for Mrs. X and put her in a dilemma whether to throw away this one-year old dehumidifier or have it fixed. Mrs. X was not even sure the leaking problem could be fixed or not. If the leaking could be fixed, Mrs. X would still go through hassles of personally carrying the product in and out at the service center to have the leaking problem fixed given her physical condition stated earlier.

Marketers of dehumidifier suppliers fail to identify and address the need of consumers like Mrs. X At the end of interview, Mrs. X strongly expressed her frustration about why marketers fail to identify the need of consumers like her. She believed that there are numbers of consumers out there having the same need, plus a dehumidifier is an indispensable product almost in every household in Taiwan. She also showed hesitation in purchasing a new local or Japanese brand one even though she was in need of it for she could foresee the decision-making, purchasing and post-purchasing process would be the same until one day, one marketer of dehumidifiers can truly understand consumer behavior and is willing to satisfy their needs by providing product mobility and hassle-free repair service for consumers. So far Mrs. Lee just couldnt do anything but left the defected dehumidifier home without using it!
Case Report: Consumer Behavior Exercise E Name: Jessica MH Cheng