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Concept
Industrial marketing
Summary
Industrial marketing or business-to-business marketing is the marketing of goods and services by one business to another. Industrial goods are those an industry uses to produce an end product from one or more raw material. The term, industrial marketing has largely been replaced by the term B2B marketing (i.e. business to business marketing).
Historically, the marketing discipline made a distinction between industrial marketing and consumer goods marketing. During the 1980s, businesses shifted from industrial marketing to business marketing. Within a decade, the term business marketing had largely displaced industrial marketing. By the late 1990s, the term, B2B marketing, came into widespread use.
Business-to-business
Main features of the B2B selling process are:
Marketing is one-to-one in nature. It is relatively easy for the seller to identify a prospective customer and build a face-to-face relationship.
Highly professional and trained people in buying processes are involved. In many cases, two or three decision makers must approve a purchase plan.
Often the buying or selling process is complex, and includes many stages (for example, request for proposal, request for tender, selection process, awarding of tender, contract negotiations, and signing of final contract).
Selling activities involve long processes of prospecting, qualifying, wooing, making representations, preparing tenders, developing strategies, and contract negotiations.
Industrial marketing can cross the border into consumer marketing. For example, an electronic component seller may distribute its products through industrial marketing channels (see Channel (marketing)), but also support consumer sales. Many products are equally desired by business and consumers—such as audio products, furniture, paint, hardware, etc. Nonetheless, manufactures and service providers frequently maintain separate industrial and consumer marketing operations to reflect the different needs of the two channels.
Call for bids
Industrial marketing often involves competitive tendering.
Official source
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