Business Buying Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Buying - Essay Example These goods are not aimed directly at consumers and include selling finished goods: e.g. office furniture, computer systems; selling raw materials or components: e.g. steel, coal, wood; selling services to businesses: e.g. security, financial consulting, and legal services In both types of markets there is a distinction between consumers and buyers. Whereas buyers actually make the purchase, it is consumers who use the product. For e.g. if a father buys a Kia Carnival for his daughter, he is the buyer while the actual consumer is the daughter who will drive it. In B2C marketing, marketers have to consider the needs of the consumer and for what purpose will the product be used. If a man buys a Toyota Land Cruiser for his son then it will be classified as a b2c sale. However if a man buys a pickup truck for his factory use it will be a b2b sale. Industrial organisations' buying differs from that of consumers because they have additional needs, for example, the making of profits and legal obligations to their customers. Generally consumer buying is a brief process where they can be affected by situational factors like point of purchase advertising, consumer moods, promotional offers etc. Their sources of information are limited often including commercial factors (car ads on TV, television, internet etc) or reference groups. Buying behavior is largely determined by cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. Consumers can make routine purchases, complex purchases (high involvement products) or simply indulge in impulse buying. Purchasing a car would typically be a high involvement purchase which will be made after much deliberation. Characteristics of B2B markets Business markets contain relatively few buying units as compared to consumer markets. B2b market is even more limited because most companies sell to only a small segment of the total market. Despite this, buying power in many business markets is highly concentrated in a relatively few firms. Not every business will have the buying power to purchase eighteen wheeler trucks. Purchasing power is usually estimated using an activity indicator of buying. There is also a substantial regional concentration in many major industries and among business users as a whole. Businesses start with the evaluation of market size attractiveness which takes into consideration some macro- and micro-economic variables along with some firm related variables; and the second stage is based on the evaluation of a market's structural attractiveness which takes into consideration some cost, structural compatibility, government policy variables etc. Buying behavior can be influenced by the economic environment, e nvironmental factors, organisational factors, interpersonal factors and characteristics of the individual. Buying is less frequent in industrial markets and includes three types of buying situations: New task buying: first time purchase of a major product (buying a heavy duty Volvo truck for the first time) Straight rebuy: