Business Buying Behavior

Types of Business Purchase Decisions

While it would appear business customers face the same four purchase situations faced by consumers (Minor New Purchase, Minor Re-Purchase, Major New Purchase, Major Re-Purchase), the nature of the business market noted above has led many marketing academics to group business purchase situations into only three categories.  The reason is that the idea of a minor order may not hold as well in the business market, where buyers tend to place larger orders and where suppliers’ marketing efforts are directed toward the most profitable buyers.

• Straight Re-Purchase - These purchase situations involve routine ordering.  In most cases buyers simply reorder the same products or services that were previously purchased.  In fact, many larger companies have programmed re-purchases into an automated ordering system that initiates electronic orders when inventory falls below a certain pre-determined level.  For the supplier benefiting from the re-purchase this situation is ideal since the purchaser is not looking to evaluate other products.  For competitors who are not getting the order it may require extensive marketing efforts to persuade the buyer to consider other product or service options.
• Modified Re-Purchase – These purchases occur when products or services previously considered a straight re-purchase are for some reason now under a re-evaluation process.  There are many reasons why a product is moved to the status of a modified re-purchase.  Some of these reasons include: end of purchase contract period, change in who is involved in making the purchase, supplier is removed from an approved suppliers list, mandate from top level of organization to re-evaluate all purchasing, or strong marketing effort by competitors.  In this circumstance the incumbent supplier faces the same challenges they may have faced when they initially convinced the buyer to make the purchase.  For competitors the door is now open and they must work hard to make sure their message is heard by those in charge of the purchase decision.
• New Task Purchase – As the name suggests, these purchases are ones the buyer has never or rarely made before.  In some ways new task purchases can be considered as either minor or major depending on the total cost or overall importance of the purchase.  In either case the buyer will spend considerably more time evaluating alternatives.  For example, if faced with a major new task purchase, which often involves complex items, such as computer systems, buildings, robotic assembly lines, etc., the purchase cycle from first recognizing the need to placement of the order may be months or even years.