Principles of Marketing

Business Buying Behavior

Tutorial Contents
Business Buying Behavior Who Makes Up the Business Market Supply Chain Market Business User Markets Business vs Consumer Markets Buying Center Decision-Making Buyer Experience, Timing, Order Size Number of Buyers, Promotion Type Types of Business Purchase Decisions How Businesses Buy Purchase Decision Steps 1 and 2 Purchase Decision Steps 3, 4 and 5

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Number of Buyers

While there are several million companies worldwide that operate in the overall business market, within a particular market the number is much smaller. For example, while in the United States there are over 95 million households who may shop at a grocery store, there are only a few thousand grocery stores with many of these centrally controlled as part of a chain of stores. Additionally, within some industries buyers are highly concentrated in certain geographic areas. Consequently, compared to consumer products, marketing efforts are confined to a smaller targeted group.

Promotional Focus

Companies who primarily target consumers often use mass advertising methods to reach an often widely dispersed market. For business-to-business marketers the size of individual orders, along with a smaller number of buyers, makes person-to-person contact by sales representatives a more effective means of promotion.

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