Companies produce products for selling into the market because if companies do not sell the products in the market it will lead to a loss for the company. The market can further be segregated into two types while one is consumer market and other is the business market, there are many differences between consumer and business market. Let’s look at some of those differences –
Consumer and Business Market Differences
Meaning
The first and foremost difference between consumer and business market is that while consumer market refers to that market in which the buyers purchases goods for consumption and it is big and scattered while in case of business market the buyers purchase goods for further production of goods and not for consumption and also business market is small and concentrated.
Value of Purchase
Another difference is that while in the case of consumer market the purchase done by consumers is of small value and consumers are individuals only whereas as far as the business market is concerned consumers are companies and also purchases made by companies are in bulk quantities. So for example in the case of the consumer market, 10000 units are purchased by 1000 customers whereas in the case of business market same 10000 units can be purchased by a single company.
Marketing of Product
In case of consumer market purchase by the consumers are done on impulse and it is easy to market a product because same marketing strategy can be adopted for large number of buyers whereas in case of business market purchase of the products by the companies are done after careful research and it takes time to sell products to in business market furthermore same marketing strategy cannot be applied for all buyers in case of business market.
Relationship between Buyer and Seller
In the case of consumer market chances of any relationship between buyer and seller are remote because the consumer makes smaller purchase and owners do not have time and incentive to make a relationship with the buyers, so, for example, you as a consumer may have bought products from Wal-Mart dozens of times but you never interact with their top management. While in the case of the business market a relationship develops between buyer and seller because of high-value purchase done by buyers and also chances of getting repeat orders from business consumers are high as compared to the consumer market.
Customer Types
In case of consumer market there are all types of customers like old people, young people, educated ones, uneducated ones, students, salaried class and so on which make their purchasing behavior dependent on current trends or fashion, income etc.., whereas in case of business market there is no such classification as majority of business market consumers are sophisticated ones and their purchasing behavior is dependent on need for products, relationship with seller, economic impact of purchase and so on.
As one can see from the above that both business and consumer market are different from each other and that is the reason why the company should have separate team and marketing strategy for consumer and business market as both markets require different techniques and approach if the company wants to be successful in both markets.