Consumer marketing and business marketing

Consumer marketing

The creation and sale of products, goods, and services to individual consumers is termed as consumer marketing. An example of an organization that markets directly to the consumers is wal mart. There are six stages in how buyers make decisions on buying the products, goods, or services. They include recognition of the need, information search, evaluation of the product, choice of product and purchase, post-purchase use and product assessment, and product disposal (Christy, 1996).

Need recognition

It is a stage where the consumer recognizes that there is a need for a particular product, goods, or service. For example, if you are planning to travel on vacation and probably you don’t have a suitcase to carry your items. The market is always trying to make consumers realize that they need a particular product. Wall-mart stimulates consumers by displaying their products all over.

Information search

Maybe you had a suitcase before, and it’s now old or has gotten smaller for you. As a consumer, you probably know what was good or bad about the previous suitcase and won’t want the same mistake to happen again. Sources of information include friends, relatives, or even on the internet about the product. The internet provides ratings, information on the products, and the tips of buying a product from different people.

Evaluation of the product

There are several types of suitcases you would choose from, and it might not be possible for a person to look at all of them. As a consumer, being given several options might become overwhelming, which might lead to buying nothing. An evaluation criterion is employed, which may include the price, the size, color, and compartments the suitcase contains (Blank, 2020).

Choice of the product and purchase

It is a stage where the consumer decides on the product to buy.  The decisions on where and how to purchase the suitcase are considered at this point. Maybe the bag was cheaper in an online store as compared to physical stores, but the shipping fee makes it equal. The consumer ought to make such decisions and purchase the product according to his choice.

Post-purchase use and product evaluation

It is the point where you get to know where the suitcase you purchased meets the need. Post-purchase dissonance occurs where the consumer realizes that the product did not satisfy the demand. A consumer begins to wish he/she could have waited for the prices to lower, gathered more information, or bought something else. This feeling by the consumers is a massive problem for the sellers.

Product disposal

Product disposal is becoming a concern to both consumers and society at large. Products that would degrade the environment are no longer wanted by the consumers (Wolny, 2014). Wal mart is becoming more alert on product disposal hence manufacturing products that can be disposed of quickly.

Business marketing

Business marketing focuses on goods, services, and products that are sold to other businesses and not directly to the consumer. An example of such an organization is Amazon. Online shopping is where a consumer buys a product directly from the seller without physical interaction (Anderson, 2006). Ways in which online shopping has changed in business to business market include the following; constant exposure of ads, research, forming bias, minimum time in stores, and mobile shopping.

Businesses can reach other firms through constant exposure of ads, for example, on YouTube videos. Bias is formed when a consumer directly searches what they are more familiar with. For example, if you want to buy a smartphone, you will search for everyday brands. Most people research home on the products they need before visiting a store hence end up spending little time in the stores. Shopping has become easier since the consumer can now use their mobiles to buy goods from the retailer (Haq, 2012).

References

Anderson, J. C. (2006). Customer value propositions in business markets. Harvard business review, 90.

Blank, S. (2020). The four steps to the epiphany: successful strategies for products that win. Chicago: John Wiley & Sons.

Christy, R. O. (1996). Relationship marketing in consumer markets. Journal of marketing management, 175-187.

Haq, Z. U. (2012). Perception of online shopping: An empirical study of Indian consumers. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 9-20.

Wolny, J. &. (2014). Mapping customer journeys in multichannel decision-making. Journal of Direct, Data, and Digital Marketing Practice, 317-326.