Report on Consumer Behavior and Insights for Oceanic Hotel - Unit 37

This report delves into the intricacies of consumer behavior and insights, particularly within the hospitality industry, using the Oceanic Hotel as a case study. It maps the consumer decision-making journey, outlining the five stages of the buying process and emphasizing the importance of understanding these stages for effective marketing. The report differentiates between B2B and B2C models, analyzing their distinct decision-making processes and exploring relevant marketing research approaches. It evaluates the influence of marketers at each stage of the consumer decision-making process, offering practical examples to illustrate key concepts. Furthermore, the report discusses the mapping of consumer decision-making in the hospitality industry, detailing the steps involved in the customer journey, from inspiration and research to booking and service delivery. The analysis highlights the significance of providing excellent service and gathering positive feedback to foster customer loyalty. Overall, the report provides a comprehensive overview of consumer behavior, decision-making, and marketing strategies in the hospitality sector.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
AND INSIGHTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAPPING OF PATH FOR CONSUMER DECISION MAKING.................................................3
Path Mapping for Purchasing......................................................................................................3
B2B and B2C.................................................................................................................................13
Differences between decision-making processes of B2B and B2C models..............................13
Approaches to market research..................................................................................................15
INFLUENCE OF MARKETERS..................................................................................................18
Evaluation of marketers’ influence on the different stages of the decision-making process
(B2C and B2B)..........................................................................................................................18
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................20
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................21

INTRODUCTION
A consumer is an individual who is the decision-maker of purchasing products or
services for personal use and not for any manufacturing, industrial or resale purpose except for
B2B consumer. Consumers basically drive the market economy by their choices. The decision-
making process of consumers includes identification of needs, gathering of information,
evaluation of alternatives and selecting appropriate product or services. The Oceanic hotel is a
medium-size hotel in UK which provides luxury to the travellers. It facilitates numerous guests
with affordable and stylish suites, bars, virtual aquariums, and restaurants where they can enjoy
food anytime. The decisions differ in different business models like B2B (business to business)
and B2C (business to consumer). This report will demonstrate the stages of decision-making
journey o f a consumer for purchasing products and services in context on hospitality industry
and the significance of developing a path map of purchase by marketers in order to understand
the consumer decision-making process. The key differences between the decision-making
process of consumers in regard to of B2B and B2C and the relevant approaches and methods for
marketing research is evaluated to analyse buying behaviour using examples of from various
product types from different industries. Also, the ways in which marketers can influence various
stages of this decision-making process is explained in brief.
MAPPING OF PATH FOR CONSUMER DECISION MAKING
Path Mapping for Purchasing
All the marketers want to expand their business whether small or big in which the
customers play a significant role. The Hospitality Industry in UK is also depended purely on the
needs of the customers (Lynch and Barnes, 2020). The main aim of the marketers is to create the
need among the people for certain products they deal with. Then, the customers feel the need to
buy the service and satisfying the customers which results in increasing the overall sales and
profit margin.
The marketers earlier followed the purchase funnel for exploring the customers but nowadays
they changed this traditional approach and prefer decision-making process of consumers to
satisfy them.

There are five sages of consumer buying process. They include the five steps that the consumer
goes through purchasing services or goods. It is essential for the marketers to comprehend those
stages in order to make the buyer to make the purchases.
Figure1 (5-stage model of the consumer buying process,2020)
” For example, Kotler & Keller (2012) in their book describe this model in detail and explain
additional stage of the model - disposal stage”.
Stage one is needs awareness/problem recognition. This is where the customer realization of
need becomes factor. The marketer’s idea is by creating an imbalance from the present status to
the preferred status which imbalance creates the needs of the consumers and make them order
the service or goods. This need would appear right away and usually is an internal stimulus -
basic impulse. There is an external stimulus, those come from the influence of the outside. In this
case promotions and advertising is used by the marketer. By creating the want in the consumer,
knowing they have need which are unfulfilled and a service or a product that satisfy it.
Furthermore, making the circumstances to create the feeling in the consumer of been insecure by
not having this product. For example, the Oceanic Hotel will create a need for the customers to
visit the hotel and use all its facilities. The guests will feel insecure without having a stay in the
hotel which forces them to stay in that place.
Stage two- because of the developed want or need the person starts the search of information for
the variety of offers that can be ordered in order to fulfil their want or need. In this case the
person will check the two of the options external and internal so he can decide. The internal
search is the memory information utilized from experience of the service and product in the past.
The external search comes from family and friend and their experience in order for the consumer

to purchase a new product. Moreover this can be done as well as by looking it to a variety of
controlled sources by marketers such as ads, TV, banners, brochures. Furthermore if the
consumer had an experience with the specific service, product or with something close to those
they want to order could influence their decision. For example, the customers of Oceanic hotel
will be attracted by the feedbacks of the customer’s past experience on all the social networking
sites and online platforms and also by getting the positive reviews from their friends and
families.
Third stage- after checking all the alternatives, a question may rise like “The product do I need
it”. The choice is made usually by the quality, price or brand. Hence usually because of
experience or emotion with the service or goods could mater in the decision of buying. However,
the marketer here should step in and makes sure of the awareness of the brand. This consumer
process is individual in this case the person is trying to find the best offer. For example, the
Oceanic hotel can give sufficient offers and discounts which forces the guests to make the
decision for the hotel. The hotel must provide the guest with the best experience so that they
change their decision and stick to that hotel.
Forth stage- after careful consideration and evaluation the consumer transvers to purchasing
process. After the chosen brand is picked the consumer has to make the order itself. However the
consumer may have the intention to buy, but not to make the order, in this case may be need it an
additional decision of when and how much to be spend. The time of order varies due to the size
and the amount of the order. Usually orders with small amounts are ordered quicker. The oceanic
Hotel must set the prices of the booking such that it does not make the guests to go for other
hotels. After decision making also, some customers do not book because of the high prices.
Fifth stage- in the final stage satisfaction and dissatisfaction plays a huge role. At this level the
consumer provides the review and makes the evaluation of the service or product. Moreover, if
the service or product they ordered met their expectation will lead to more purchases or
influencing over other people which creates the opportunity for this service or product to be

bought again. However, if there is negative feedback could lead to exactly to the opposite. This
is a moment which is very important for the marketer to catch. On another hand in case of
satisfaction the consumer should be made a loyal. The Oceanic hotel must provide the guests
with all amenities demanded by the guests so that they give a positive review and feedback. The
main goal of the hotel must be to satisfy the customers and made them loyal towards the service.
The Hospitality Industry is the most demanded industry in UK which involves the travel and
tourism along with the accommodation facilities in hotels.
When planning for a travel and staying in hotel, the things which are presented to others are
getting ready, packing of bags and the beginning of the journey but when the emphasis is laid on
the things which force the travellers to plan for a travel and accommodation is the point where
the mapping if Consumer''s Decision-Making Journey comes into play.
Mapping helps the marketers to keep a tab on the changing demands if the travellers and the
ways to satisfy them. There are many models made for describing these decisions of consumers
but one of them is discussed below :
The above figure shows the steps in mapping of Decision-making of consumers in hospitality
industry.
Figure2: Mapping of Consumer Decision-Making in Hospitality Industry
Source: the hotel business along the customer journey,2018

Consumer-Journey Mapping
Objective
The company in the Hospitality Industry aims at understanding the customer in the best
way it can by analysing the consumer behaviour and by making them interacted visually by its
products and services.
The steps considered in the customer journey decision-making are discussed as below:
Travelling Inspiration
The main thing before planning to take a service is the need to do so. The need for
travelling can be created through many mediums such as interaction with friends, seen a travel
experience of someone or by advertisements for planning a trip (Wilson and et.al., 2018). There
are many online and offline platforms for marketers to make the customers feel the need for
travelling.
The hotels in UK use the advanced technologies for such purpose. The people there are very
socially active. So, to target more people, the descriptions of hotels are represented in the news
letters, networking sites like Facebook, Instagram etc. The complete details of hotels are
provided in those posts including the amenities provided, special offers, pictures of experiences
etc. to awake the public's interest towards them.
The people are much inspired by going through the memories of their friends who travelled
recently to different places and about the fun moments and the enjoyment they had experienced.
These all things can make any person go crazy for travelling and stay in hotels.
Researching
After having planned for a travel, the main thing the customer does is the complete
research of the place where they want to explore and stay. For this, they choose online options to
visit the hotels and places (Scott and et.al., 2017). So, the marketer of the hotel must ensure that

their hotel is represented very well on the social platforms. This will create a good image for the
hotel in the eyes of persons willing to travel.
The travellers will select some hotels among many in terms of amenities provided and prices and
will go through their reviews and feedbacks on various sites like Facebook, Google,
HolidayCheck etc. for checking the experiences of the guests stayed recently and will look on the
factors in favour and against of it.
The main things which force the travellers to decide staying in a particular hotel are the
presentable websites having all the information, the snaps and videos of the hotel, the positive
reviews if the customers stayed, and the information that is exposed on various online sites and
apps. After this stage, the people become mentally and physically ready for travelling to a
particular place and staying at a particular hotel for accommodation.
Process of Booking
This is the decision of purchasing. After lots of research which lasts for days, weeks or
sometimes months, the traveller decides for the hotel. The Booking process is mainly done using
2 methods i.e., via email or the official website of that hotel. This process must be easily
accessible and summarized because a person after decisioning also can reject for the hotel if the
method of booking seems complicated.
So, the hotels must focus on their presentation on online platforms having user experience of
good quality, brief content and especially attractive prices according to the people they target.
Here, the people who were normal travellers become the customer of that particular hotel.
Service On the Location
This is the phase for which the above mentioned steps were highly emphasized. The
comfortable stay is the main aim of the customers and the hotel owners (Anderl and et.al., 2016).
At this stage, the customers become the consumers. The quality of the experience during the stay
decides whether they will tell others not to choose that place, or they will recommend for the stay
at the hotel to friends and relatives.

There are many factors to be focussed on during the stay such as cleanliness of rooms, hygiene
of all the areas of hotel, service at the rooms, the best cuisines at the restaurants according to the
consumerism's demand, calm and peaceful environment maintained, listening to every problem
and working upon it at the same time and many more. The hotel owner cannot do all the
purposes. So, it appoints particular individuals and teams allotted for efficient performance and
result in every field.
The efficient performance of all the employees working there and the effective results will
definitely satisfy the customers, and they will recommend others to decide for the same which
will increase the number of consumers and enhancing the overall progress of the hotel thereby
improving the image or goodwill.
Post stay based on Loyalty
The main goal of the hotels in this phase is to retain maximum number of customers by
securing the loyalty towards the brand and the hotel (Oliveira, Birrell and Cain, 2020). The
marketers must appreciate the customers for their loyal and peaceful stay. Also, they must
remind them regularly for their positive attitude during the stay in the hotel and motivate them
frequently for staying again next time whenever they plan for the same.
They can perform these above mentioned processes by the means of newsletters and social
networking sites. The corporate blog can be proved to be a good source of promoting. They must
also offer them certain discounts and offers such as if they will give 2 or more customers to the
hotel then there booking price will be reduced to half, their transportation will not be charged
and many more. The effectiveness of this phase will attract many more customers to the hotel.
So, this is how the journey of the consumers decision-making ends and the starts again may be
with another customer. By understanding and implementing this mapping effectively will
definitely help the hotels to reach their goals of getting growth rapidly.

The above figure shows the steps in mapping of Decision-making of consumers for hotels.
This process if Mapping is done in all the industries including the Hospitality Industry in UK for
knowing the customers more and building strong relation with the particular company. This
strategy is the biggest and one of the most effective of all in 2020 for all the business persons
(Rosenbaum, Otalora and Ramírez, 2017). Besides producing new products and emerging in the
competitive market, the one thing which is most important is enhancing the experience of the
customers.
The Mapping is important for the marketers of all the companies due to numerous reasons. This
enables the owners to have a clear idea of what to be presented to the customers and what not.
They get to know about the existing trends in the industry and provide services accordingly
(Mohsenin and et.al., 2018). For example, the trend of social media increases, then it must carry
all its promotional activities through networking sites and online platforms to reach maximum
number of people.
The marketers become aware of the points to be mentioned during advertisement for the hotel
and restaurant at the right time. For example, if some pandemic like Covid-19 is caused due to
Figure 3: Mapping of Consumer Decision-Making Journey for Hotels
Source:THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY,2018

spread of a virus then it's promoting must highlight the sanitization activities and the safety
measures used by the employees of the hotel. This attracts more number of travellers to stay in
such a hygienic hotel.
This also provides the information about the struggles of the customers, the information they
want from you which will help you to provide good customer experience. The company's
emphasis must be laid totally on making the customers satisfied by giving good quality products
and services whose idea will be analysed by the mapping process of decision-making if
consumers.
It will facilitate all the sectors of the company including the designers by getting the feedback
from customers about their experience staying in a room of particular design. So, with this
mapping all the departments of the hospitality industry can be facilitated by knowing about the
relevant and irrelevant elements for the satisfaction of customers(Solomon and et.al., 2017).
Factors influencing consumer behaviour
Behaviour of consumers is affected by following factors:
Cultural: These factors greatly affect the behaviour of the consumers towards making decision
for a hotel or a travel. This defines the wants of the people. Culture can even segregate the group
of people on the basis of race, religion, nationality etc. The wants of people also depend on
whether they belong to upper class, middle or lower. The Oceanic hotel being a medium sized
hotel provides amenities at affordable prices so every sector can plan for it.
Social: It is mainly based on family, friends, relatives, status etc. this have face-to-face effect on
the people who plans for a travel or staying in a hotel. The consumers are majorly affected by the
reviews and feedbacks of neighbours, co-workers etc. for staying in a hotel like the Oceanic
hotel.
Personal: These factors include the age, stages in life, occupation, financial condition, physique
and many more (Cavanaugh, 2016). So, the oceanic hotel takes this advantage and provide
services to all the people for any age group. These factors decide the place and the hotel where
they will have a stay.

Psychological: It plays a major role in the decision making process of the consumers for a hotel.
Psychology of a person can change a big NO to big YES. It is the mental stability which helps
the person to make decisions. Even some people stays in a hotel and its peaceful environment to
stable their mental state. If a person has booked the tickets for the oceanic hotel and suddenly it
gets a negative feedback, then its psychology changes and it cancels the booking.
Levels of Consumer Decision Making
When talking about selecting one of the alternative to solve a problem, there comes 3
different kinds of problem solving spread which are referred to as consumer decision making
levels which are as follows:
Extensive Problem-Solving
In this level, the customers are completely unaware of the products and services of the
hotel. So, this critical situation needs to have a depth research of the decisions which can be
made for choosing a particular hotel and also to choose one brand from all the available ones.
Here, the things are involved highly, are of high cost like hotels, properties etc. and involves
much risk on using the service for the first time.
Limited Problem-Solving
Here, the person is aware partially about the products, some existing brands and offering
but is unaware of the new brands. So, they had to add or modify their existing knowledge to
evaluate the brands (Hamilton and et.al., 2019). These things are mostly the repeated purchase,
are involved at a moderate rate, are of affordable costs and have fewer risk associated with it.
Routinized Problem-Solving
Under this level, the person is completely aware of all the products, offerings and the
brands. The goods in this are involved the least, much inexpensive and are bought frequently
with no risks involved. The person purchases these things regularly and in routine. These have
brand loyal customers because they use it on a regular basis.

Figure 1: Maslow Hierarchy of Needs
Source: Piech.K.,2020
The above figure shows the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs for the levels of Consumer Decision
Making.
B2B and B2C
Differences between decision-making processes of B2B and B2C models.
Stages B2B B2C
Problem
recognition
Business needs are recognized
rationally
Personal needs are compelled by a mix
of reason and emotions
Information
search
Products searched among business
networks of manufacturers, whole
sellers and suppliers and detailed
research
Information is searched using various
online websites, blogs, product review
sites, magazines and comparison articles

Evaluating
alternatives
Evaluation of multiple suppliers on
the basis on quotes, quantity, trade
discount, and reliability. Emphasis on
ROI very high
Alternatives are determined by quality,
price, location, brand reputation,
popularity, trend worthiness, emphasis
on ROI moderate
Purchase
decision
Long process, discussion is done with
committee or business partners in
order to improve business and
increasing sales, longer buying cycle
Not very time taking, decision taken
with friends or family in order to satisfy
needs for personal use and improving
lifestyle, impulse actions
Post purchase Follow up for regular maintenance,
long term buyers, High importance
After sales support only in case of
problems or complaints
1. The first stage of a consumer buying decision is the recognition of needs and problems.
The needs for businesses is recognized when there is a shortage of supply or stock, or a
new product line is being introduced and raw materials are needed. For example, A
restaurant recognizes the need for more sugar and flour for its baking processes. I this
B2B model the customer is the restaurant and the supplier becomes the business. A sugar
mill or flour factory is the supplier in this case. In a B2C business, the customer is the end
user, that is a person going to a restaurant for having dinner who recognizes the need for
a service such as eating food in a fine-dine (Stephen, 2016).
2. Searching for information by a business in B2B is done rationally and using a detailed
research process among business networks about suppliers, manufacturers and industries
dealing in the product. For example an interior designing business would search about
carpenters or wood making industries via digital networks made for getting professional
quotes(Del Bene and et.al., 2019). In case of B2C, an end user evaluates the need of
designer furniture and searches for information about top furniture retailers on the basis
of brand equity, word of mouth, references from friends, online product reviews and
other multimedia, advertisements and promotions of furnitures.

3. For evaluating various alternatives, a B2B customer would follow a detailed approach of
careful analysis on the basis of available budget and return on investment. For example, a
boutique dealing in fashion apparels would carefully analyse the material needs of cloth
and specific fabrics like satin and then identify various cloth mills or synthetic fabric
factories on the basis of quotes, quality, quantity, percentage of trade discounts, fright
charges as well as reliability and reputation of the supplier (Mothersbaugh and Hawkins,
2016). On the other hand, a customer in need of a fashion apparel such as a dress would
evaluate various alternative routes and stores through which the purchase can happen
such as e-commerce websites like Amazon or physical stores like Zara, Marks and
Spencers, Next, Arcadia etc. on the basis of quality, price, location, brand reputation,
popularity, trend worthiness etc. They also tend to get influenced by advertisements at
this stage. The return on investment is moderately analysed.
4. The purchase decision in B2B is done with recommendations and discussions with
committees, business partners, marketing or product development departments and even
finance departments and is often a long process(Jain, Khan and Mishra, 2017). For
example when the company DELL had to select its supplier for microprocessors,
decision-making was carefully done by the top management in accordance with other
departments and finally Intel was selected. Till date, dell laptops use only Intel
microprocessors for its laptop models. The buying cycle is longer in the context of B2B.
But if a B2C customer has to make a purchase decision it involves feedback from friends,
family and online product reviews. The selected preferences might change according to
feedbacks and there is possibility of switching to alternatives in case of a negative
feedback. There is also a possibility of impulse decision for low cost products. The
buying cycle is generally shorter.
5. The post purchase behaviour in case of both B2B and B2C are different. Business
customers are generally regarded as longer-term buyers(Han and Stoel, 2017). For
example if a Cyber-cafe such as Solomon's Internet Cafe in London decides to purchase
computer systems in bulk from either a computer technology company or a whole-seller
of computers, it requires maintenance and follow-up of spare components and additional
parts such as keyboards or screens. Because of a longer business cycle, the follow-up in
this case becomes of high priority(Khan, Asad and Mehboob, 2017). But in case of an

end user such as a teenager who purchases an Xbox from an electronic retailer like
Microsoft store in London will only call for after-sales support or complaints in case of
dissatisfaction with the product or if it starts to malfunction. The feedback is given via
online sites or on Google reviews. Both users go through the feelings of cognitive
dissonance about the purchase-decision(Hamilton and et.al., 2019).
Approaches to market research
The type of information that is gathered about customers, market, competitors influences
the choice of market research methods. Market research is about analysing, capturing,
evaluating and interpreting data about a market so that organizations and businesses can design
their product and services in accordance to results and needs and devise their marketing
strategies accordingly(Buerke and et.al., 2017). Research methods are of two types: Primary
research & Secondary research- Primary research is carried out by using first-hand data
collection methods like in person surveys, telephone surveys, online surveys using feedback
forms on website. Secondary research is carried out through other people or by using existing
data by researchers, financial data by other companies or using existing data collected through
third parties in partnership with the business(Pawaskar, Raut and Gardas, 2018).
The general approaches to market research are:
 Surveys : this is a primary research method and widely utilized by business. Survey
questions are provided to respondents via various methods like phone, over email, in-
person or online forms, and they have to answer these which show their preferences or
choices.
 Focus groups: A bunch of people are asked about their opinions and ideas about a
product or service and discussions and brainstorming happens in form of natural
conversations. The whole process is monitored by a moderator. Competitive Analysis: Various models and frameworks like Porter's five forces, pestle
analysis, Swot analysis, SEO structure, PR coverage is conducted to analyse competition
that the firm might face in regard to its products or services.
Market research approaches for B2B:

Business to Business market research involves mixed methodologies that is qualitative and
quantitative analysis are used to gain insights about the business needs, preferences, insights and
opinions of any organizations. The whole research is based on rationality and statistical analysis.
Three main methods are focused while conducting the research: competitive analysis, qualitative
interviews of experts and environmental analysis(Araya and et.al., 2019). The b2b target market
consists of a specific population based on smaller sample sizes. The b2b markets are needed to
capture enough information, the testing and verification to attain statistical confidence. The
participants are usually business professionals and top managers. So the research is generally
conducted via telephone, email and web surveys and in-person interviews. Focus groups are not
used in b2b marketing research. The pool of the participants is way smaller than b2c and 80/20
rules is applied which helps in placing greater importance on influential respondents. Units are
focussed more than individuals such as IT unit, finance unit, product development unit for
understanding the bigger picture of decision-making in business environments. There are
straightforward incentives for participation such as gift cards, special discounts on goods etc.
B2B research is carried out by experts with knowledge, experiences, network and resources. The
research is based on the aim of achieving high return on investment.
Market Research approaches for B2C:
B2C refers to the market where a company sells directly to an end user or consume. The
purpose of a market research is determination of facts about the market and use accurate
analytical methods. Several methods can be used complementarily though primary method is
online research. The three main market research methods are analysis of legal and socio-cultural
aspects using pestle analysis, conducting a qualitative study of the needs of consumers by
interviews and focus groups and conducting online surveys and questionnaires. Environmental
research focussing on legalities is done to analyse the plethora of norms, regulations and
standards that protect consumers(Rucker and Galinsky,2016). It is important to understand the
market segment by an analysis of:
 Demographics such as income level, age group, gender and education level
 Behavioural and cognitive influences of culture and sub-culture, customer beliefs,
opinions, attitudes that impact decision-making
 Influence of opinion leaders

 Digital audience research developments
 Psycho-graphics to understand the customer beliefs, opinions, attitudes that impact
decision-making
 Price elasticity impact on purchase behaviour
 Current trends in the particular industry and segmentation of niches.
Behavioural and psychological factors of culture and sub-culture impact the consumer
behaviour. The subculture displays values, customs, and beliefs that in the similar culture are
quite distinct from the other segments. Together with the principles and practices of
religions, the broader community still finds prevailing principles and behavioural trends. The
organisation needs to focus upon setting, situation, behavioural capability, expectations, self-
control, empiric learning, and reinforcements. These factors offer opportunities and social
support in developing the perception to set and promote the healthful forms, that helps in
targeting the consumer and understanding their behaviour. Consideration of family decisions
and then initiate advertisement and advertising questions, so that significant numbers of
young people can be reached as they can significantly influence the decisions of purchasing.
The impact of prices should be considered before advertising to gather more attention by
using strategic pricing policies.
The digital audience should be approached on the basis of research, analytics and strategies on
the basis of location (town, region, state-depends on what your business is), gender, language,
Age and proportion, eating habits and purchasing habits. The company can use analytical tools
and insights from Twitter analytics, google analytics, Instagram and Facebook analytics.
Qualitative interviews and effective focus group discussions can be used to understand needs and
preferences of consumers. Ultimately, online survey can be used to measure consumer
satisfaction. The questions should have clarity and the intent should be of getting answers to
obtain behavioural change, purchase intent and preferences. Use of a convenient sample should
be avoided and focus should be on individual behaviour.

INFLUENCE OF MARKETERS
Evaluation of marketers’ influence on the different stages of the decision-making process (B2C
and B2B)
B2B : To influence the decision-making process of B2B marketing, certain factors should be
considered like- the complexity, communication processes among company associates and
interpersonal relations. The external factors that affect their decision-making process are
environmental factors, political factors, legal factors, technological factors, socio-cultural
environment and competition. Internal factors that affect the decision-making process are:
Business objectives, allotted resources and budgets, manpower skills. It can be influenced by
using various marketing strategies:
 B2B Email marketing: Business customers look for high return on investment and the
emails used for promotions should resonate with matters like time, money and resources.
Effective emails have to be sent to the business customers and email newsletters should
be part of the content marketing programmes(Yokokawa and et.al., 2018). Emails can
contain enticing subject lines which brief about the whole email. Marketers should stick
to a single CTA or call-to-action to allow audience focus on the email. Email designs
should be responsive and correct segmentation of email to reach the target audience is
necessary.
 Digital marketing: Defining target market and creating an online presence is essential as
any business customer reaches to suppliers via an online platform. B2B sales cycle
involves many players like gatekeepers, decision makers etc. Websites are easy and
straightforward for describing quotes, product or services(Cavanaugh, 2016). Optimizing
the digital presence is essential by using tactics of technical SEO. Running PPC
campaigns that is pay-per-click advertising to improved location based solution or
product features.
 Content marketing and social media marketing can influence business customers o the
basis of adding valuable information precisely looked for. Though it can be harder to
connect using social media, but it establishes an online personality of the company by
building brand awareness and humanizing the business.

B2C: The whole decision-making process which is impacted by emotional factors,
demographics, changing trends, needs, preferences etc. Marketers can influence the decision-
making at various stages of the buying prices by various marketing strategies:
 In the need recognition stage, Social media can be used to reach target audience base with
advertisements through online platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Companies can
create needs for consumers by advertisement and promotional methods targetting the
market environmental.
 In the information searching stage, consumers can be targetted by SEO strategies paired
with PPC advertising to improve their search rankings in various search engines like
yahoo and Google. Even local companies can use this digital marketing strategy to
getting shown up on local search options or by using attractive search titles.
 In case of evaluation of choices, price comparison is used by consumers which can be
influenced by promotions on online platforms along with discounts, and other cash
discounts, and inclusion of EMI options or debit/credit card payments, discounts on
wallet payments and featuring distinctive price comparisons with other products of the
same category(Yang, 2017). They can influence e-commerce websites or physical stores
to promote their products specifically. Their aim is customer engagement which can
result in selection of their product among alternatives by the customer.
 Purchase decision: This is usually determined by product reviews sites and online
comparisons, feedbacks, and online influences. Marketers can influence the feedback of
their products by partnering up with online product reviewers and bloggers or Key
performance influencers on Instagram who can impact the final decision of the buyers.
They can even let celebrities endorse their products which tends to influence final
decision-making for some consumers.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that path mapping of consumer decision-
making process is necessary in order to understand the consumer behaviour as many factors can
influence their choices. The basic process of decision-making involves identification of needs
and problems, determining sources for researching, evaluation of various options and

alternatives, purchase decision and post-purchase behaviour. The different models of businesses
are B2B which means business to business and B2C which refers to business to consumers.
There are differences in both the models when it comes to the process of decision-making in
terms of sales cycle, feedback, research about products, multimedia engagement and final
purchase decision. The approaches to conduct market research also differs in both the cases as
B2B model requires professional ad expertise research on small sample size while There is
online survey prevalence in B2C research. The marketers can influence both these models in
various ways like PPC advertising, creating needs, SEO strategies, social media engagements
etc.

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