Consumer behavious - B2C and B2B - Essay Example

This paper therefore, shall be focussed on the identification and evaluation of the various dimensions of consumer behaviour and consumer decision making process based on the differences between the B2B and the B2C buying behaviour. Moreover, the paper shall also aim at providing few real life illustrations to demonstrate the major differences between the consumer behaviour in B2B and B2C markets. The paper shall also look into the buying process in the B2C markets. Differences between the Buyer Characteristics of B2B and B2C Customers According to most of the authors, researchers and marketers, the buying behaviour of consumers differs vastly in terms of B2B and B2C markets.

The differences can be identified on the ground of various features related to the overall buying behaviour of the targeted customer group. To be precise, the buying behaviour of B2B and B2C consumers largely differs in terms of market structure, buying unit, kind of purchase, nature of the buying process and communication (Dave, 2008). B2B Consumer B2C Consumer Market Structure: The structure of a market refers to the buying capacity of the targeted customers. . prefer buying in units Kind of Purchase: This particular attribute of the buying behaviour of the targeted customers refers to the reason of purchase.

Business or industrial consumers purchase goods or services in order to satisfy their business needs rather than their personal needs In the case of individual customers the reason to purchase a good or service is to satisfy their personal needs or family needs (Pearsoned, 2006) Nature of the Buying Process: The buying decisions of the customers are also considered to be different in the case of a B2B customer and a B2C customer. The buying process is highly formalised and therefore faces major inconvenience as a result of supply failure The buying process is comparatively less formalised and thus creates a minimal amount of inconvenience in the failure of the supply (Pearsoned, 2006) Communication: Communication is the factor which assists the marketer to create an impulse on the targeted customers.

In the case of corporate buyers, the impulse of personal selling is greater than mass media communication In case of the B2C customers, the influence of mass media tends to be much more effective than personal selling (Pearsoned, 2006) Other than these differences the buying behaviour of B2B and B2C customer also varies from several other influences such as the macro and micro environmental fluctuations. For instance, the buying behaviour of a B2B customer in an FMCG company is highly influenced by the fluctuations of the company’s financial stability or other economic trends.

Contradictorily, the buying behaviour of a B2C customer does not directly get influenced by the ups and downs of the micro-environment (Barschel, 2007). The differences in the B2B and the B2C consumer buying behaviour can be again identified in the