B2B vs. B2C Marketing Differences
Once a decision is made to develop a business, whom the customer will be is the next decision to be made. Whom will the company target as a customer? Will it be a business? Or will it be a consumer? Business-to-business (B2B) marketing has differences from business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing practices. This paper will outline these differences between the two types of e-commerce business transactions.
'Traditional marketing in the business-to-business environment requires very different strategies from those campaigns directed towards the consumer market.' (ExtraVision, n.d., p. 1) 'Consumer competition can be a lot fiercer, with customer loyalty a constant battle.? (ExtraVision, n.d., p.1)
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After the consumer makes his selection from the landing page, a transition to the shopping cart and checkout page is simply the next step to complete the transaction. In a business-to-business e-mail marketing campaign the e-mail is only a part of the marketing. The e-mail to a business must contain contact information for offline communications, and an attachment for downloading catalog or price list information. The e-mail is followed up by sales representatives who will also forward quotes and snail-mail an information packet (Weil, 2002).
The e-mail sent to either a business or consumer must be enticing to the customer. It should be colorful and have pertinent information. A URL leading the customer to the landing page is imperative in order to either generate the lead for a business transaction, or lead a consumer to a ?Specials? page with the current sales displayed. After the e-mail has been received by the business or consumer, the Internet website landing page is browsed by either type of customer. Here is where the business wishing to do business must obtain permission to take information from the customers or businesses perusing their landing page. When doing a business-to-business transaction, permission involves assuring the business information shared will be kept private. This will lead to more lead generation (Weil, 2002). Business-to-consumer transactions require obtaining permission in a different way. Here a
The new advances in technology allow businesses to reach different customer bases. This includes buying and selling products over the Internet. The online shopping process is considered e-commerce. E-commerce is made up of different behaviors but for the purpose of this discussion the three discussed are consumer-to-consumer (C2C), business-to-business (B2B), and consumer-to-business (C2B). The different behaviors have different mediums to reach their targeted audience. The message for each behavior persuades a particular audience to purchase a product using that particular medium. Consumers and businesses look to the web for cost-effective ways to sell and buy products.
The first steps that managers must consider when developing and employing an online business strategy include the ways in which information, goods and services and communications are exchanged in the web-based operational model. In essence, they must realize that technology and digitalization is key to fostering customer-centric user experiences, so as to support transactional, order fulfillment, and information exchange. In addition, an
B2B is one of the major forms of e-commerce. Here the seller and the buyer participate as the business entities.
Traditionally, B2C versus B2B was often defined as business marketers being more sensitive to price, customer loyalty and working business relationships while B2C marketers tried to create excitement for their products through emotional connections. While this definition remains true, the lines are blurred because B2B companies now use B2C techniques, social media and heightened user experiences to nurture long-term business relationships. The goal of a savvy business marketer is to generate an emotional response for the
Just about every business today has a web site. Weather they are doing business with other businesses or selling directly to the public, a business today needs to have a web site. This paper will discuss Business-2 Business (B2B), Business-2-Consumer (B2C). The paper will look at the marketing concept, and the similarities and differences of brick-and-mortar and eBusiness. Every business, rather online or at a physical site, falls in one of the following categories.
There are many differences between the customer behavior of the B2B space and the B2C space. For one thing, the wants and the needs of these two customers are entirely different. Individual consumers only need to worry about their own needs, whereas B2B customers need to look at the needs of the company as a whole. It behooves B2B companies to seek out influencers and powerful executives, while B2C companies may focus on any one consumer seeking a product or service. In this corporate space, customers’ needs are based less off personal reflection and more on the company’s overall business strategy. Businesses customers are more likely to research product attitudes, including quality, productivity, and overall value.
Once one has identified a target market, he/she will have a good idea of the best way to reach them, but most businesses use a mix of advertising, personal selling, referrals, sales promotion and public relations to promote their products or services. However, in this study, promotion was looked at alongside pricing and product attribute. Further, Kotler & Ruth (2004) opine that promotion is characterized by advertising, publicity and sales promotion. Advertising involves non-personal communication transmitted through mass media. Publicity involves free promotion through news stories in newsletters, newspapers, magazines and television. Sales promotion involves all forms of communication not found in advertising and personal selling, including direct mail, coupons, volume discounts, sampling, rebates, demonstrations, exhibits, sweepstakes, trade allowances, samples and point-of purchase displays. Relatedly, Kotler & Ruth (ibid) assert that promotion is a method used to spread the word about a product or service to customers, stakeholders and the broader public. Once one has identified a target market, he/she will have a good idea of the best way to reach them, but most businesses use a mix of advertising, personal selling, referrals, sales promotion and public relations to promote their products or services. However, in this study, promotion was looked at alongside pricing and product
Over the last several years the process of reaching out to customers has been continually changing. Part of reason for this is because more people are turning to the Internet as a way to be able to promote their products and communicate to a larger audience. A good example of this can be seen with the election of Barack Obama in 2008, with him using this medium as a way to gain support and funding for his campaign. This allowed him to utilize this new technology to effectively connect with and inform voters about key issues. Over the course of time this helped his campaign to gain momentum. Once this occurred is when he was able to stand out against his rivals through effectively utilizing these tools. (Miller, 2008)
Marketing differs between business to business and business to consumer in a few different ways the main one is the emotional experience of the buyer. The marketing programs are the same, which includes: events, direct marketing, internet marketing, advertising, public relations, word of mouth and alliance. The difference is how each marketing program is executed, what is said in the program, and the outcome.
Marketing ultimately depends on who you are delivering your message to. With Business to Business (B2B), an organization has to know the businesses needs, its current situation, competitors, trends, technology and costs. Business to Commerce (B2C) is also about knowing who you 're selling to. You have to know their wants and needs, your competition, distribution, supply chains and costs.
Functionality in B2B eCommerce websites depends on subsets of core and custom features, back-office tools, user interfaces, and even design considerations that affect what viewers see when they visit a website. Regardless of software platform, certain core business features are essential for highly functional B2B eCommerce websites, but how companies handle the various duties these features perform can determine success in competitive markets and impact every area of business operations. That 's why it 's critical to choose an operating platform where core business functions can be customized to specific industries and B2B models to foster greater functionality, appealing and intuitive interfaces for stakeholders, better communications and greater abilities to manage and monitor eCommerce operations throughout the buying and shipping cycles.
Any B2B company -- whether operating a simple eCommerce store, client portal or combination of the two -- needs to captivate and compel its audience with personalized features, easy, mobile-optimized ordering and user-friendly architecture. In short, supplying a better customer experience is what 's required to land new customers and foster loyalty among established B2B buyers. The business-to-business buying process is more complicated than selling to consumers, but B2B customers want want B2C-type shipping integrations, personalized displays, drop shipping and
B2B is the commercial transactions between enterprises and enterprises through electronic media such as the Internet Extranet. B2B E-Commerce is the arising from suppliers to customers who want to reduce the cost and length of procurement as well as international organizations to improve the efficiency and security of communication over the network even more.
If you 're not using -- or have given up on -- landing pages, then you 're missing out on a truly integral component of the sometimes complex B2B sales cycle.
The following table summarizes the differences between B2B marketing and B2C marketing. Your marketing plan needs to take into account the differences and ensure you are developing the right types of activities for your particular market.