We’ve made it to Week D where we will explore two units of study: Unit 5: Consumer Decision Making & Unit 6: Business Marketing.

Unit 5: Consumer Decision Making, where you will learn more about the choices that you as consumers make every day. In this unit, we will learn more about customer behavior which describes how consumers make purchase decisions and how they use and dispose of the purchased goods or services.

We’ve all gone through this process — identifying a need, searching for options, evaluating alternatives, and making a decision about what to purchase — and often, we reflect on our purchase and determine whether or not we are satisfied. Sometimes, if not, we’ll return the item if possible. Other times, we cannot return the item (food, for example) and we have what’s called buyer’s remorse. Ever had that feeling?

In this unit, you’ll review Consumer Decision Making through the lens of the consumer, and through how a marketing department has to consider each stage of this process in order to adequately position goods and services to consumers.

We’ll be learning about how other organizations can be a target market for some industries or products as part of Unit 6: Business Marketing. Business marketing is also often referred to as Business to Business marketing or B2B, and includes the presentation of a product or service from one business to another. 

Think of a business such as your favorite coffee shop. They need a plethora of goods and services in order to operate. Perhaps they hire a cleaning service to come in and clean the shop after the store closes for the night. They likely order cups and lids among other paper goods from a manufacturer. 

The coffee house likely provides WiFi so that customers can work on their phones or computers from the store which they purchase from a telecommunications company. 

Before a business owner decides which service providers to contract with and which goods manufacturers to purchase from, marketing helps to showcase the benefits of various choices.

As you learn more about Business Marketing in this unit, think about what ways you’ve encountered B2B marketing, and how marketing departments need to cater their approach when marketing to other businesses versus independent consumers.

Use the Week D  links in our Course Schedule to access our Course Materials and Assignments for this unit. As a reminder, all assignments must be submitted by Sunday November 20, 2022 at 11:59pm ET.