Raincoat for Motorcyclists’ Buyer Utility Map

Motorcycle is the most popular mode of transportation in Indonesia. In 2011, 73 percent (65.7 million) of vehicles in this country are motorcycles and its production has been experiencing 9.5 percent annual growth in the last five years. People who use this mode of transportation are mostly students and low-to-middle income workers. The wet/rainy season is their worst enemy. Rainfalls could be horrible and floods are an everyday phenomenon during this period. Motorcyclists who use a raincoat made from Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) that priced at Rp75,000-Rp150,000 ($7.5-$15) each can easily be seen during this season. They wear the same raincoats with pedestrians (conventional raincoats), despite differences in needs among them. In this article, I will try to explain the buyer utility map for motorcyclists in Indonesia, particularly to have a better picture on how the raincoat should be designed for them.

Use – Customer Productivity. Being able to bring important things—documents, books or laptops—means increasing productivity for people. Motorcyclists who are workers or students usually bring a backpack or a laptop case that consists of things they will use later. Rainfall has a big impact in their productivity. Often, when they have to ride in the rain, they couldn’t bring anything as their raincoat doesn’t have enough space for luggage. The raincoat for motorcyclists will have a larger space for a backpack or a laptop case, two things that most people bring on their motorcycle.

Use – Risk. Because the two-piece design, conventional raincoats can make the waist area vulnerable to water as it could penetrate into the raincoat. Motorcyclists who bring backpacks when riding in the rain will usually end up getting their body and their backpacks wet. Often, they put their backpacks or laptop cases inside the raincoat, making it stretched out and exposing their backpack’s lower area and their waist to rain. The one-piece design that will be used for the raincoat for motorcyclists will better protect them as it will provide more space for a backpack or a laptop case and the waist area is covered perfectly so water couldn't penetrate from this area.

Purchase – Convenience. Unlike conventional raincoats, this product will be sold in several points of distribution. People can buy it in bike shops, convenient stores, or online. This will add more convenience during the purchase stage. Traditionally, people buy raincoats at bike shops, which are spread abundantly and can be found in every half a mile in major cities in Indonesia. However, as the rapid growth of convenient stores in Indonesia (e.g. Alfa Mart and Indomaret) combined with the habit of motorcyclists to buy utilities in these stores, I think it is a good idea to utilize these stores as distributors. Also, as more people in Indonesia are using internet and Web stores are highly common, marketing the product online would also help people who don’t have time to do window shopping to buy the product.

We are still working on other aspects of the product, particularly on the pricing, materials used and the specific target of end users (men vs women, workers vs students, etc.) and how to tailor the design that could best accommodate their needs. We welcome any suggestions and comments you might have.