Business Markets and Business Buyer Behavior
• Business Buyer Behavior defined:
– The buying behavior of organizations that buy goods
and services for use in the production of other
products and services or for the purpose of reselling
or renting them to others at a profit.
• Why study business buyer behavior?
• Why study BBB separately from consumer
behavior?
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Table 6.1 - Characteristics of
Business Markets
Marketing Structure and Demand
–
–
–
–
Business markets contain fewer but larger buyers
Business customers are more geographically concentrated
Business buyer demand is derived from final consumer demand.
Demand in many business markets is more inelastic—not affected as
much in the short run by price changes
– Demand in business markets fluctuates more, and more quickly
Nature of the Buying Unit
– Business purchases involved more buyers
– Business buying involves a more professional purchasing effort
Types of Decisions and the Decision Process
– Business buyers usually face more complex buying decisions
– The business buying process is more formalized
– In business buying, buyers and sellers work more closely together and
build close long-run relationships
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Differences in Marketing to Business Buyers
•
•
•
•
Direct selling vs. mass marketing
Team selling
Price negotiation, long-term contracts
Seller pre-certification
– ISO 9000
3
Key business buying criteria
Quality
Specifications
Price
Technical
Capability
Business
Buying Criteria
Warranty/
Claim Policies
Delivery
Schedules
Past
Performance
Production
Facilities/Capacity
4
Figure 6-2:
Major Influences on
Business Buyer Behavior
5
Five roles in the buying center
User
Buyer
Decision
Maker
Influencer
Gatekeeper
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Business Buyer Behavior
• Major Types of Buying Situations
– Straight rebuy
• Reordering without
modification
– Modified rebuy
• Requires modification
to prior purchase
– New task
• First time purchase
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Decision time and problem definition
Three types of buying situations
Long/
uncertain
Short/
well defined
New
task
Modified
rebuy
Straight
rebuy
Few
Many
Number of people in buying center
and number of suppliers considered
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Figure 6-3:
Stages of the
Business Buying Process
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