Assignment #12- Figuring Out Buyer Behavior

 Since most of my travel revolves around the military, whether it be for work or leisure, I decided to see if fellow co-workers felt the same way about my potential business idea.

The Segment: military members

The Interviews:
#1-Navy reserve pilot, commercial airline pilot,  pet owner

• It was evident that he definitely shared the same need that I did. Being a pilot, he has heard too many horror stories that of pets traveling in the cargo section of the aircraft. He said he would never put this dog through that high stress environment and would rather drive to his destination if his pet had to come along. 
• In terms of information search, he did not do much because he knew the conditions of traveling with pets on an airline because of his work. However, he did mention looking into kennels to make arrangements or driving depending on the situation. In this particular case, there was not much of search but rather considering alternative solutions. 

#2- Service member, married with no kids, pet owner

•  She did not necessarily share the exact same need because she only traveled in the Florida area. Most of her family lives here so driving with the dogs was not a huge issue. However, she did say that she would consider traveling more is this opportunity existed. 
• For information search, she did mention that she had looked into flying her animals on American Airlines once before, but was not comfortable with the idea of her dogs in the cargo section. That stopped her from ever looking for more information in the future.

#3- Service member, single, pet owner

•  He was very enthusiastic about the idea. Being single, he has the flexibility to travel on his own terms. Much like myself, he never liked leaving his dog behind. He also mentioned that members changing duty stations would love this idea, especially if they were going overseas. 
• Again, information search never really existed. Instead it was alternative options of where to board his dog. However, he believes that this would be a big item across the military and many people would be interested in using the service. 

Conclusion: Only one person that I asked to interview told me that they did not share the need to travel with their pets on an airline. This was a person with a big family, so they did not travel often in the first place. In terms of this segment, I got a lot of positive feedback from military members, as I originally had expected. I believe that people would do more information search if this option became available instead of searching for alternative means.  Overall, I do still believe that the military segment of consumers would be a huge factor in the success of this business.