B2B vs B2C – So What’s the Difference?

B2B refers to Business to Business or when businesses sell products to each other.  B2C is Business to Consumer or when consumers like you and I purchase products from a brick and mortar or online store.  When you go to a grocery store and purchase a pint of raspberries that is a B2C transaction.  If you are a convenience store owner and you go to Sam’s Club or Costco to purchase 20 pints of raspberries to resell at your store that’s a B2B transaction.  When the convenience store resells the raspberries directly to the end user or consumer that is an example of a B2C transaction.  

One could then assume that consumers buying from businesses should behave the same as businesses buying from other businesses — that is a very poor assumption.  Although the transactions may seem similar, the behavior of businesses versus consumers can be very different.  

I worked at an industrial distribution company that focused on selling products directly to businesses.  We classified our products in different categories based on how often those products sold and needed to be reordered. When we decided to sell 50,000 of our products on Amazon.com, we assumed that the business to consumer customers would behave the same way.  Much to our surprise, they didn’t.  Products that didn’t move very quickly for our company in the B2B space moved very quickly on Amazon.

There were other behavioral differences between our B2B and B2C customers.  After doing some competitive analysis, we built one version of our website that had promotional banners all over the site.  We assumed that our customers wanted the cheapest price all the time.  We launched the site but our sales did not go up as dramatically as we had assumed it would.  We received feedback from our customers who told us to be more like Competitor X who didn’t do any promotions.  Their feedback was too brief to be actionable.  We then contacted every customer who provided feedback to get more details regarding exactly what they meant by their feedback comments.  We learned that although the B2B customer wants a fair price, they aren’t as price sensitive as we originally thought. There are exceptions of course, but in general, we learned that they were more interested in being able to find and purchase products easily and quickly on the website.  Their time is more valuable than saving a few dollars here or there. They thought the promotional banner ads were too distracting.  They suggested that we focus our attention on improving the navigation and search versus bombarding them with discounts and promotions. We immediately rebuilt our website based on customer feedback and our sales instantly improved.

The key to knowing the difference between B2B and B2C is understanding the customer’s behaviors and buying habits.  Analyzing the competitive landscape is also key.  If you know what triggers your customer’s purchasing behavior and ensure that you offer a fair price with very good product quality and exceptional customer service, you will be successful.  

Keeping Up With Technology

OK, I’m going to be dating myself, but you’ll get the message.  When I was growing up, it was a really big deal to be the first family on the block with a color television set. Soon there after, Walkman entered the scene.  Who would have thought that you could take personal music with you wherever you go.  It was easier with a Walkman versus an 8-track tape boom box.  Cassettes replace 8-tracks and CDs replaced cassettes.  Sony Betamax was going to revolutionize the video recording industry, but VCRs took center stage.  Unless you go to an antique book store, you can’t find LPs or VCR tapes.  In some cases, like the record player is making a comeback.  Now we have streaming audio, movies, TV shows etc.  Gone are the antennas on top of your house, but instead you have Dish Network and Comcast. 

Technology is converging every day.  When I was growing up, if you wanted to call home, you used a neighbor’s landline or a payphone.  Now every 8-year-old has a smartphone with all of the coolest apps.  They also have an IPad, laptop and can hook up any electronics in your house.  They understand and use social media as a way of life.

In the old days, you would send a disobedient child to his or her room or possibly send them to a “time-out”.  The best punishment for kids it to take their cell phones and IPads away.  No device, no connection to their social lives. Times have changed.  They have also changed in the marketing world.

A new study from YuMe.com shows that 92% of millennials use a connected device while watching TV.  I’m not surprised.  My teen-aged son has over 50,000 SnapChats.  Thank goodness I have unlimited data for him or I’d be broke.  People switch devices quicker than they change socks.  If you have a bad phone connection, no problem.  Go to your local cafe and use WiFi.  Device hopping is very common in my house.

With this new influx of tech savvy customers, advertising on multiple devices makes tons of sense.  Wherever the customer is, the advertiser needs to be there.  As we gather more customer information and profiles, the better we can predict where customers are going and when we need to be there.  Good marketers will be there waiting with their product messages.