1. Business Buyer Behaviour
   1. New task
      1. New product so greater the cost or risk, the larger the number of decision participants, and the greater their efforts to collect information will be.
   2. Modified rebuy
      1. Modify the product specifications, prices, terms, or suppliers. More complex
   3. Straight rebuy
      1. Reorders something without any modifications. It is usually handled on a routine basis by the purchasing department.
   4. Systems selling
      1. Many business buyers prefer to buy a complete solution to a problem from a single seller. Instead of buying and putting all the components together, the buyer may ask sellers to supply the components and assemble the package or system.
2. Stages of the business buying decision process
   1. Problem recognition
      1. Internal
         1. The company may decide to launch a new product that requires new production equipment and materials.
      2. External
         1. The buyer may get some new ideas at a trade show, see an ad, or receive a call from a salesperson who offers a better product or a lower price.
   2. General need description
      1. The buyer next prepares a general need description that describes the characteristics and quantity of the needed item. For standard items, this process presents few problems. For complex items, however, the buyer may have to work with others—engineers, users, and consultants—to define the item.
   3. Product specification
      1. Product value analysis
         1. An approach to cost reduction in which components are studied carefully to determine if they can be redesigned, standardized, or made by less costly methods of production. The team decides on the best product characteristics and specifies them accordingly.
   4. Supplier search
      1. Buyer conducts a supplier search to find the best vendors. The buyer can compile a small list of qualified suppliers by reviewing trade directories, doing a computer search, or phoning other companies for recommendations.
   5. Proposal solicitation
      1. Buyer invites qualified suppliers to submit proposals. When the item is complex or expensive, the buyer will usually require detailed written proposals or formal presentations from each potential supplier.
   6. Supplier selection
      1. During supplier selection, the buying center often will draw up a list of the desired supplier attributes and their relative importance. Many buyers prefer multiple sources of suppliers to avoid being totally dependent on one supplier and to allow comparisons of prices and performance of several suppliers over time.
   7. Order routine specification
      1. Buyer now prepares an order-routine specification. It includes the final order with the chosen supplier or suppliers and lists items such as technical specifications, quantity needed, expected time of delivery, return policies, and warranties.
      2. vendor-managed inventory, in which they turn over ordering and inventory responsibilities to their suppliers. Under such systems, buyers share sales and inventory information directly with key suppliers.
   8. Performance review
      1. Lead buyer to continue, modify, or drop the arrangement. By critique of supplier performance to the order-routine specifications. The seller’s job is to monitor the same factors used by the buyer to make sure that they are delivering the expected satisfaction.
3. Participants in the Business Buying Process
   1. Users
      1. Members of the organization who will use the product or service.
   2. Influencers
      1. Help define specifications and also provide information for evaluating alternatives.
   3. Buyers
      1. Formal authority to select the supplier and arrange terms of purchase.
   4. Deciders
      1. Formal or informal power to select or approve the final suppliers.
   5. Gatekeepers
      1. Control the flow of information to others.
4. Major Factor Influences on Business Buying Behavior
   1. Environmental
      1. Business buyers are heavily influenced by the many factors in the current and expected economic environment. The business buyer must watch these factors, determine how they will affect the buyer, and try to turn these challenges into opportunities, such as the level of primary demand, the economic outlook, and the cost of money
   2. Organisational
      1. Organizational factors are also important. Each buying organization has its own objectives, policies, procedures, structure, and systems, and the business marketer must understand those factors as well.
   3. Interpersonal
      1. The buying center usually includes many participants who influence each other, so interpersonal factors also influence the business buying process. These factors can include expertise and authority. It is often difficult to assess such interpersonal factors and group dynamics.
   4. Individual
      1. Each participant in the business buying-decision process brings in personal motives, perceptions, and preferences. These individual factors are affected by personal characteristics such as age, income, education, professional identification, personality, and attitudes toward risk.
5. Buyer Factors affecting business buying behaviour
   1. Personal
      1. When suppliers’ offers are very similar, business buyers have little basis for strictly rational choice. Because they can meet organizational goals with any supplier, buyers can allow personal factors to play a larger role in their decisions.
   2. Economic
      1. When competing products differ greatly, business buyers are more accountable for their choice and tend to pay more attention to economic factors.
6. Business Markets
   1. Fewer but larger buyers
      1. Business markets have far fewer but far larger buyers than the consumer marketer does. Even in large business markets, a few buyers often account for most of the purchasing.
   2. Derived demand
      1. demand for consumer goods. B-to-B marketers sometimes promote their products directly to final consumers to increase business demand.
   3. Inelastic demand
      1. demand for many business products is not affected much by price changes, especially in the short run.
   4. More fluctuating demand
      1. demand for many business goods and services tends to change more—and more quickly—than does the demand for consumer goods and services.