Know-How Exchange : Customer Behavior

The typical view is that business purchases are made with "someone else's money" and demand more objective assessment (of alternatives) than consumer purchases. Often the purchase decisions in B2B situations are handled by a professional purchasing agent, and there can be multiple influencers -- IT, operations, etc.

While this may be literally true, I've found that the fundamentals of marketing apply to both B2B and B2C customers. Both purchase products and services to satisfy legitimate needs. Both evaluate the benefits and costs of their purchases. Both like to do business with honest, forthright suppliers. Both seek information at the level appropriate to the consideration. Etc.

And, of course, there are PEOPLE making the decisions for both B2B and B2C. We're not marketing to bots or droids. People like to be treated with respect, not talked-down-to, not taken for fools.

So, in my experience there really are very few differences between consumers and businesses when it comes to how they decide to buy. I've been in consumer businesses (P&G, Frito-Lay, Playtex, etc.) and I've been a long-term consultant in B2B situations (DuPont, IBM, dozens of smaller businesses) ... and my own consulting business is B2B. They really are quite similar in many ways, and any differences are only at a tactical level -- more likely related to the specific products or services (or industry) than to whose money the customer is committing.

There was a discussion on this earlier (which I can't seem to find), but people are people.

The primary differences between b2b buying and b2c buying are:

time (the decision process in b2b is generally longer and involves more people)

money (the prices are generally higher in b2b, e.g., a payroll system costs more than a roll of paper towels)

information level (you need more details and specs to buy a server and 20 computers than you do to buy shampoo.

Jodi

Dear Info,

Without exception, all buying and selling is not done by either
B2B or B2C. It's done by people.

Businesses are run by people. Consumers are people.

What generates the decision to buy? More often than not, it's to solve a pain, ease an ache, or to: solve a problem; fulfill a desire; fill a need; plug a want, or to fill a void.

People buy to complete things: lives, issues, problems, relationships, sets, collections.

And they buy to fit in, to be accepted, and to tell peers, friends, relatives, colleagues, and neighbours, "I have what it takes and
I can afford to make this purchase. The completion of this transaction means I belong, and that sense of belonging gives
me significance."

All of this is hardwired into our DNA.

Why? Because despite our 21st century toys and our wireless world, we are, and will always be, hunters and gatherers. We are social, tribal beings. And we always will be.

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

Some answers from the archives:

https://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=611
https://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=1141
https://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=3489
https://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=17739