Business buying process

1. Phases in the Business Buying
Process
•Need recognition
•Defining specifications
•Search for suppliers
•Evaluating proposals
•Supplier selection

2. Roles of entities in the business
buying process
•Initiators
•Influencers
•Users
•Buyers
•Deciders
•Gatekeepers

3. Risk assessment and
organisational buying
•Higher the risk, larger the no. of entities involved
•Greater the risk, lesser the importance of ‘price’ as
a decision criterion
•Greater the risk, higher the information search in
the phases of defining specifications and searching
for suppliers
•Higher risk facilitates a collaborative relationship
between customer and supplier

4. Types of uncertainty in the
business buying process
•Need uncertainty – customers experience
difficulty in expressing the exact nature of need
•Market uncertainty – differences between
suppliers (quality and service) and evolution of the
supplier market creates uncertainty
•Transaction uncertainty – customers are unable to
predict the outcome of the transaction

5. Types of buying situations
•‘New buy’ – purchase of item/s not
previously purchased
•Modified re-buy – items purchased in the
past but not recently or regularly
•Straight re-buy – purchase of an item that is
purchased frequently and regularly