9A

From interviewing a different set of five people, I learned there is actually a lot of variability in my unmet consumer need. When I first thought of this opportunity, I naively believed that everyone who smoked would have an unmet consumer need to quit this behavior. However, this is very far from the truth. From my new interviews, I learned that certain people who share a lot in common with other people from this opportunity don't actually have this unmet need. For example, two of the people I interviewed are heavy cigar smokers, but do not smoke cigarettes. Both of these people told me that they have no desire to give up tobacco products. They say smoking a cigar every day is part of their routine, and they have no desire to give it up. Another one of the people I interviewed works at a tobacco shop down the street from me. He told me that most tobacco shops do not like selling Electronic Cigarettes at their shops, because they believe that it will eventually ruin the demand for smoke shops. From these new interviews it is very apparent to me that even though people share the same characteristics as others that have this unmet need, that not everyone will lie in this boundary.

At a certain point, it seems like the need to quit smoking differs from the need to quit smoking cigarettes. One of the new people I interviewed says that he only smokes vapes, cigars, or marijuana. Thus, even though people would consider him a heavy smoker, he does not smoke any cigarettes whatsoever. Because of this he told me that he does not support the E-cig market whatsoever. Instead, he thinks people who want to quit smoking should find a way to quit themselves. He further went on to say that he does not think it fair to the tobacco industry to have someone practically come in and undercut them in such a way. With all of this being said, it seems that the need I have come up with is actually very conflicting.

The underlying cause for the people who lay outside of this boundary rests in the disruption of the market. Almost all of the people I interviewed stated this as their main reason for not supporting the E-cig market. They believe that it will interfere with all of the people in the tobacco industry. Not only will it directly hurt the tobacco industry, but they also claim that it will hurt our economy as a whole. They claim that so much revenue is brought in from tobacco, that if the sector were to disappear, they fear that we may be taxed may more to compensate for this loss.


                         Inside the Boundary                                    Outside the Boundary
-People who are smokers, and have a desire               -People who are smokers, but either wish to
to quit, especially by switching to E-cigs                      continue smoking or not switch to E-cigs
-The need is to save peoples lives from                      - The need is not to get rid of tobacco, but to
tobacco, by switching to a healthier mode                    have people quit smoking by themselves
of smoking, E-cigs                                                      -An alternative explanation is that smokers
-The need exists because every day lives                     are so invested in this that they cannot stop
are lost due to people smoking tobacco