Buyer Behavior and Segmenting Markets

Buyer behavior refers to how consumers think and behave when making purchasing choices. This trend is divided into two categories: industrial customers who buy for business uses and customers who buy for personal and family use. The business is concerned with the buyer’s organization, the consumer’s logistical need, and the individual’s personal or emotional needs.

Buyer action is divided into six levels, which are as follows:

Problem identification occurs when a buyer understands the need for a particular object. It is available for either assortment depletion or assortment expansion. Information search; this has two forms, internal search which consists of recalling previous know-how of the product and external search which includes shopping around, going through manufacturer’s work and adverts.

Evaluation of alternatives; here buyers evaluate their options based on the information remembered or collected. Most buyers use heuristics when assessing choices, and they include search heuristics which mainly considers rules for finding out information, evaluation heuristics which judge product offer.

Purchase; after choices evaluation, the original purchase comes next. The consumer will trace the chosen brand and select payment method.

Post-purchase evaluation; here the consumer decides whether the buying has been satisfactory or not.

Divestment stage where buyers dispose a product after use. It can throw empty containers in a bin or trade-in of a second-hand item like a car.

Factors influencing buying decision

These forces include social factors where family and friends influence decision making, psychological factors, and personal factors

Impulse buying

Impulse buying is not planned for and happens due to confrontation with an incitement. There is a reminder, pure, industrial, suggestion and planned impulse. Industrial buyer behavior

varies from consumers such that they are more courteous in the buying behavior.

Buyer behavior relation to workplace

In a workplace, consumer behavior helps in decision making and avoiding impulse buying which helps in saving money and getting satisfaction.

Consumer behavior helps an individual personally and professionally through information search before buying a product which allows one to learn better before buying a product. It saves money and time and also it helps one to be self-organized and avoid impulse buying.

Market Segmentation

Segmentation is categorizing consumers regarding their needs. Segmentation assumes that not all are alike, identify sub-groups of people with similar needs, small groups will be lower and more regular than a market at large, and it is easier to satisfy comparable customers than perfect ones.

Segmentation variables

A segment must achieve the following for it to be a success; it must be assessable, , it must be extensive, and it must be stable.

The segmentation of Business markets includes the following standards; type of organization, geographical location, client company size, usage rate and product use.

Segmentation relation to workplace

Segmentation helps a company to identify and address individual customer needs.

Segmentation can help personal and professional development by understanding how to segment and position which helps to identify customers’ needs thus giving satisfactory services.

As an owner of supply chain company, consumer behavior, and segmentation, targeting and positioning will be of high knowledge because their application will enable understanding the consumers better and know what satisfies them best. This understanding will enable adequate planning and putting measures in place to satisfy the customers. These conditions create a conducive environment to come up and implement ideas that will ensure success in personal and professional development.

Reference

Brassington, F. and Pettit, S. (2013) Essentials of Marketing. 3rd Ed. Harlow: Pearson Education.