Consumer and Business Buying Behavior
Consumer and business buying behavior tests how buyers move from need to purchase and why business purchases differ from household ones. Expect scenario questions about the buying center, buy classes, or the consumer decision process.
Consumer decision process
- Need recognition
- Information search
- Evaluation of alternatives
- Purchase decision
- Postpurchase behavior
- Psychological factors: motivation (Maslow), perception (selective attention, distortion, retention), learning, beliefs, and attitudes.
- Social factors: reference groups, family, roles, and status; culture and subculture shape wants.
- Postpurchase dissonance is doubt after a high-involvement purchase; marketers reduce it with follow-up, warranties, and reinforcement.
Business buying
- Derived demand: business demand comes from consumer demand, so it can fluctuate more.
- Business markets have fewer, larger, more professional buyers and multiple influences.
- The buying center includes initiator, user, influencer, decider, approver, buyer, and gatekeeper; one person may hold several roles.
- Buy classes: straight rebuy (routine), modified rebuy (some change), new task (high uncertainty).
- Stages include problem recognition, need description, product specification, supplier search, proposal solicitation, supplier selection, order routine, and performance review.
Worked example
A hospital buys an MRI scanner. It is a new task: clinicians identify the need, radiology influences specifications, finance approves, purchasing negotiates, and a gatekeeper controls vendor access. Demand is derived from patient referrals. The hospital evaluates image quality, service response, training, and lifecycle cost, not just price. The seller should map the buying center, provide clinical evidence, and reduce perceived risk with references and a service-level agreement. Reasoning: new-task purchases are multi-person and risk-heavy, so the proposal must address each role.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing the five consumer stages with the business buying stages.
- Assuming the buyer is the decider in a business purchase.
- Treating business demand as independent of consumer demand.
- Believing price is always the dominant supplier criterion.
- Forgetting that information search is limited for habitual purchases.