Week 4 EOC: Business to Business Marketing

The consumer market involves much of meeting customers demands and needs. The Xerox comany is a great example of this idea. Xerox was the first company, and for a while, maybe the only company making large profits in the photocopying business. It seemed as the market for these products started to change, Xerox did not change with it. This cost them a lot of business until they decided to reinvent themselves as a company. "As a result of this new thinking, Xerox now offers a broad portfolio of customer-focused products, software, and services that help its customers manage documents and information" Marketing: An Introduction pg. 66. Apple is the best example of meeting consumer demands. Although considered highly expensive, Apple still has loyal customers willing to pay for their products. "The American consumer market consists of more than 300 million people who consume more than $14 trillion worth of goods and services each year, making it one of the most attractive consumer markets in the world." Marketing: An Introduction pg. 136. The buyer decision process is as follows: Need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and post purchase behavior. So basically a consumer finds out what he needs. Searches for what that is and finds out where it can be obtained. Looks at all the options he has for that product and options to obtain that product. The adoption process is "The mental process through which an individual passes from first hearing about an innovation to final adoption." Marketing: An Introduction pg. 154. Basically the consumer finds out information about the product, decides wether he needs it or not, tries the product and last decides if he needs this item for regular use. The business market is all about businesses deciding what product they can sell for a profit. Although their products end up in the hands of consumers, the most important part of business-tobusiness sales is getting the product to the large resellers of their product. That is where the bulk of their profits are made. The most important factor in the business market is probably the desire for the product or service. The demand for the goods through consumers is their entire market for sales. This decision process is much longer and more complicated than consumer sales. "The buying business usually calls for detailed specifications of the product. "Marketing: An Introduction pg. 160. The buyer and seller in business to business sales are much more dependent on each other. They work much more closely together to make sure both sides of the deal are satisfied with the outcome.