What are the differences between consumer and industrial goods, and what are the implications for international marketing?
B2B refers to the industrial marketing; marketing or inter organisational buying and selling. The largest difference to marketing for consumer goods lies in the source of information; in industrial markets, buyer are well-informed, highly organised and sophisticated in their purchasing behaviour. And industrial purchasing is influenced by multiple factors.
Most commonly, a buyer is not the end user, but continues to sell the product throughout the supply chain, until turned into a consumer good. Thus, the interaction between the organisations and a network of relationships is more important than finding a marketing mix.
Motives are different as well, since industrial buyers are seeking profit while final consumers seek satisfaction. Finally, the number of buyers and sellers is much smaller in the industrial market than the consumer market.
Together these factors; informed buyers, profit as an objective, and small number of buyers and sellers, set the foundation for specific buying patterns and demand characteristics, and the emphasis on relationship as a marketing tool.