Question

Below are the learning exercises for Lesson 6. What is required of you is to pick 5 of the following to talk about. Each one will require a 2 to 3 paragraph informational response.

Lesson 6

1. Visit at least two different retailers. Determine whether each has a transition zone at the front of the store. Discuss the differences between the shopping experiences. Which one is more conducive to buying?
2. Identify one B2C seller and one B2B seller. Describe at least three differences between their buyers.
3. Identify one B2B company or organization that fits each of the following descriptions and describe why each belongs in the category:

• Producer
• Reseller
• Government
• Nonprofit organization
• Consider each of the following products and services. Evaluate each one based on utilitarian need and hedonic need:

• Trip to Las Vegas
• Subscription to Rolling Stone magazine
• Internet service
• College education
• iPod Touch
• Jessica wants to celebrate her twenty-first birthday in style. She bought a new outfit, had her nails done, and went to the tanning salon. She is not only having a party for one hundred of her closest friends, but she is going to broadcast it live on Facebook and Twitter while the party is going on. Which need on Maslow’s hierarchy is Jessica striving to satisfy?
• Assume you are a salesperson for Chevrolet and you are among the first to sell the new electric-powered car called Volt. Which need on Maslow’s hierarchy is the car designed to meet?
• Imagine you work in the communications department of your school. Homecoming is just a few weeks away, and you are in charge of getting the banner for the parking lot, which will direct alumni where to park. This year, the directions to the parking are different than they were on the banner last year. Identify the type of purchase a new banner for the parking lot is and explain.
• Assume you are selling printers and copiers to a group of clinics. The buying center includes people from purchasing, information technology, administrative assistants, doctors, and nurses. Discuss the role that each might take on as part of the buying center and the impact they may have on the final buying decision. How might you interact with each one?
• Identify a recent major purchase that you made recently. How did you recognize the need for the product or service? Where did you go to gather information about the options that were available to you? Did you use one method or a combination of methods?
• Contact a buyer at the headquarters of a retailer such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, GameStop, Costco, Urban Outfitters, or another company. Ask him about the process he uses to determine which products to put in the retail stores. Is his process similar to the process outlined in this chapter? How does it differ? How does his postpurchase evaluation impact his decision to buy the product again?
• Describe a situation in which a salesperson might use crowdsourcing.
• Assume you are a salesperson for a major telecommunications company and you are calling on a major construction company that is considering buying smart phones for the key people in the company. Describe at least one organizational risk and one personal risk that might be involved in the customer’s decision.
• Identify a feature, advantage, and benefit for each of the following products and services:

• MTV
• Kia Sportage
• Palm Pre
• Virgin Mobile phone

Answer 1

1. I had visited two retailers and one of those had a transition zone at the entrance whilst the other had the entrance crowded.

Transition zone is an idea that involves buyer psychology. When we move into a store, there is a point at the entrance where we adjust ourselves to the shopping experience. There may be people who receive us, there may be banners and discount information, smell of things in the store, change in lighting etc. We adjust ourselves to all these prior to shopping.

When I entered the first store with a transition zone, I felt very good as it had an environment designed for shopping. The second one was not like the first. It was a small store with things packed in right from the entrance itself. It felt awkward to stand and analyze things at the entrance of the store.

In my opinion, stores with transition zones are more conductive than those without.

2. B2B is a type of business in which products are produced for other businesses while B2C is a type in which products are produced for customers.

A B2B business is Samsung making processors for its rival Apple. B2C is Apple making iPhone for its customers. There are several differences between both businesses’ buyers. Three of these are explained below.

a. The buyers of B2B will be companies. There are instances in which rivals supporting companies in producing spare parts as in the above case.

b. B2B business will involve a contract agreement between the buyer and seller whereas for B2C, there will be no such contract. You go to store, take your iPhone and go.

c. B2B businesses are mostly niche products. B2C does not have its products to be niche.

3.

• Producer – These are the ones who produce goods like farmers, manufacturers etc. An example is Samsung who produces iPhone processor.
• Reseller – A reseller is somebody buying products for the purpose of reselling it for profit. An example will be retail dealers of printers.
• Government – Governments also buy products from businesses to support their operations. An example is governments buying windows software from Microsoft directly.
• Nonprofit organization – Nonprofit organizations also require products for their operations. An example of B2B to NPOs are buying blood bags from manufacturers.
• Consider each of the following products and services. Evaluate each one based on utilitarian need and hedonic need:
  • Trip to Las Vegas – Hedonic need
  • Subscription to Rolling Stone magazine – Hedonic need
  • Internet service – Utilitarian need
  • College education – Utilitarian need
  • iPod Touch – Hedonic need

Hedonic needs are needs that satisfy our senses after the utilitarian requirements are met while utilitarian needs are needs that satisfy our requirements.

4. Jessica has physiological needs like food, shelter etc. She has safety also as she is in a position to give party to 100 of her friends as well. She is 21 only and is presumably in her third stage which calls for the needs for love and belonging. She is trying to achieve a sense of being loved by her friends.

5. Volt is designed to meet the esteem need of Maslow’s hierarchy. Maslow’s theory of hierarchy has five stages namely physiological, safety, love and belongingness, esteem and self-actualization. As one need is reasonably met, people tend to move forward to the next stage.