1. What were you hoping to learn?

There was three main points I was interested in investigating.

• Have sales decreased due to the internet
• What the typical features of a laptop are used in a sales pitch
• What are the questions you would ask a customer

2. What did you do to prepare?

To prepare I thought of some questions to ask, however these were only to be used as a guideline as I wanted the sales assistant to elaborate on what they were saying.

3. How did you capture the information?

The information was taken with pen and paper, during the interview I took very brief notes and then wrote more comprehensive notes once I was away from the sales assistant as I wanted the conversation to be more of a casual conversation about their work instead of a proper interview.

4. Did the activity go according to plan?

The activity ran very well. I spoke to three different sales assistants from different computer stores including one manager from the apple shop. They were all more than willing to answer some questions as I went at a time when they weren’t busy.

5. What would you do differently next time?

If I were to do this again, I would take someone else along with me to take the notes for me, that way they can make more comprehensive notes on the key points as its being discussed while I keep the conversation flowing and casual.

6. What did you find out? Facts not analysis at this stage.

Common questions to the customers consisted of “What will you use the laptop for?” and “how much experience do you have?”

The price of the laptop rarely comes into it as people will pay for what they need.

Each customers main selling point depends on the customer, e.g. a customer looking for a laptop for their coursework would end up with a cheaper laptop that potentially has more memory.

The general feeling was that the internet has a very small impact on laptop sales in stores.

7. Any surprises?

From the above points, two points surprise me, these are that the internet doesn’t have much of an impact on the sales of laptops from within a shop. I assumed that more people would be converting to buying online, however this doesn’t seem to be the case. The other is that on most occasions, budgets are very rarely an issue or sales point. Customers do normally go into a store with a budget in mind, however this is flexible.

8. Was this the best way to elicit this type of information? Alternatives techniques?

By having an interview with the sales assistants, I was able to gain an insight to their feelings about the industry and how they approach different sales situations. This approach was conducted because of the information gathered in the questionnaire. The questionnaire answers surprised me by revewaling more people prefer to shop in store, so I wanted to find out what they do differently.

9. Is your data reliable and valid?

The data gathered is very reliable because it has come from the people who work within the industry. One of the people I interviewed stated that he had worked in the industry for about 25 years, the others appeared to have similar experience. As the conversation was kept casual, the assistants were more open with me.

Some of the data gathered also ties into the questionnaire thus making it more reliable as it can be backed up.