The Twenty Percent

1. Clelia's Party Dresses is a local boutique featuring evening gowns for special events such as proms, pageants, parties, etc. In my local area in Jacksonville, since I am home for spring break, this was the place that first came to mind when I was trying to think of an entrepreneur. I asked to speak to Clelia and she was very busy so she declined my request to video our encounter (so did all 3 of the customers I questioned. This is a very high end store and I think people were very skeptical of me questioning them which was discouraging and uncomfortable.)
Nonetheless, Clelia explained to me that her target customers were girls in pageants around the ages of 16-25. She described to me that typically women in this market have unmet needs because it is difficult and discouraging to find a dress that fits someone exactly how they like it. She offers alterations and great services to help match jewelry and shoes to dresses as well as talk to each customer about what their desires are and help them find the dress they are dreaming of. She explained that they have certain girls who act as "models" who essentially advertise the company by handing out business cards to girls in the specified target group. She also explained that she advertises heavily through Facebook and local paper advertisements.

2. I was a little confused as to whether I was supposed to find any 3 random girls who fit the specified demographic to question or 3 actual customers. It is now my understanding that I was probably supposed to do the first but I actually did the latter of the two. Nonetheless, my encounters pretty much all went the same. (I wish I had recordings of the interactions, but like I mentioned above, none of these girls were very willing to answer my questions and seemed very distracted because they were busy shopping)
The first girl I spoke with told me she was 17 and was looking for a dress to wear to her senior prom. I asked her if she had difficulty finding a dress prior to this store and she said yes and told me she had tried many other stores before this one, but was recommended by a friend to visit this store because of the great attention they pay to their customers.
The second girl I spoke with was actually looking for a dress for a pageant but never actually told me her age. She told me that she is a recurring customer, which helps me understand the 80-20 rule more in depth.
The third girl I spoke with was also looking for a gown for a pageant and she was 16. She told me about the local high school pageant that is going on next month and told me that she was able to find her prom dress at this store and was hoping to also find some luck finding a gown here for the pageant.
3. As I reflect on this assignment, I was able to see through 2/3 of the customers I spoke with that the 80-20 rule probably is a real thing. In my experience, when I find a store or brand I enjoy I typically stick to that store and become a recurring customer and there are often stores that know me very well on a personal basis for this very reason. I think customers for the most part either really enjoy or really dislike their experiences and will either, for the most part of course, never return, or return relatively frequently.