Week 4 EOC: Business vs. Consumer Buying Behavior

The buying behavior of a business is very different from the buying behavior of the average consumer such as you and me. When a big company like General Electric stays in business for as long as they have, it is only making and selling light bulbs and refrigerators to help fund the bigger moneymakers like locomotives and jet engines. Since it takes many months to create something like a locomotive on paper as well as bringing that drawing to reality, it is a long term investment so they use the business under their umbrella that will make enough money to keep the business afloat until the company can sell the big ticket item and make a lot more money than they ever would selling light bulbs. But, in the end, every business whether they are selling to a business or to the average person, they all need each other in some way or fashion. The Intel Company only really makes processors but they advertise for personal computers. The consumer wants to buy a personal computer which has an Intel processor. The two have a business together which supports each other and if one company has a drop in sells than the other will have a drop in sells. When GE makes light bulbs, it would be futile to make a bulb that would only go in their products. But, there is also a lot of research that goes into making a product of any kind. A company needs to know who their customers are and what their needs are for such a product a company wishes to make. Other factors which will effect buying by a consumer that can't be predicted are things like natural disasters and tragedies like September 11th when nobody for awhile came out of their home to buy anything.