Every second novice copywriter who switches to marketing thinking has one difficulty. Difficulty in determining the difference between B2B and B2C segments.

At the first sight, everything seems to be clear with the segments themselves:

B2B – we (as a business) sell goods or services to other businesses, legal entities.

B2C – we (as a business) sell goods and services to individuals, consumers.

But problems start a little later, at the stage when we start to offer something to each segment, at the stage of determining needs and values. By the way, there is a detailed lesson on the needs of the target audience, take a look.

Example to show the difference between B2B and B2C

When solving applied problems, people often confuse the B2B and B2C segments with each other. Let’s look at a clear and simple example. Let’s say we need to sell a chair. Regular office chair. How are we going to do that?

Copywriters who at once begin to write out operational properties, such as convenience, comfort, maintaining posture, immediately make a mistake. They think through aspects that may not interest the audience at all. This means that the offer will pass by, and the audience will not buy anything. That is why it is necessary not only to correctly identify the segment, but also the person who makes the purchase. So let’s see.

B2C segment

The buyer is an individual, a consumer. Selects and buys a product. As a rule, for him- or herself, for family or as a gift. Therefore, the following aspects are important

• Suitability of the chair for the task (for example, an avid gamer who streams is unlikely to buy a cheap office chair without a headrest).
• Consumer qualities: support for the headrest and lower back, materials, whether the hips sag, etc.
• Brand, its status and importance for the buyer.
• Correspondence of the price to consumer qualities or a brand.

Everything here seems to be similar to what is described at the beginning of the article. But it is always easier with the B2C segment, because we are all consumers and we look at goods as consumers. The main problem starts with B2B segment.

B2B segment

To offer the B2B segment a chair with certain consumer properties: convenience, comfort is a thankless undertaking. First, because the company is not interested, as a rule. It’s interesting in a different context. Secondly, because the one who orders the chair, as a rule, does not sit on it. And finally, thirdly, because here a lot depends on who makes the decision and in which sub-segment. And there are two of them. Simply put, there will be as many as four options for needs. At least.

Sub-segment A: a company – a wholesaler, sells furniture

For this B2B sub-segment, the chair is just a money-making tool. Those. the company buys it from you to sell it to the consumer. And first of all, she is interested in how much the company can earn on these chairs, and how well and seamlessly they are sold (but not consumer properties a la “as for themselves” – the company just doesn’t care about them). That is, once again: the company is interested in the sale of the chair and its properties in the context of this sale, but not the properties of the chair itself. Plus, a lot here depends on the person making the decision (DM) about the purchase.

1. When the decision maker is the director of the company: he or she is primarily interested in profitability, liquidity, demand for goods from buyers, so that the goods are popular, sell well and turn around in the warehouse. To have a minimum of returns under the warranty.
   
2. When the decision maker is a Head of Procurement: he or she is interested in the same thing, but not so much in the context of profit, but in responsibility. These guys do not like to take additional risks, because if the product suddenly sells poorly or breaks down and is returned under warranty, they will receive a scolding from management. There are, of course, even more subtle matters such as kickbacks and other dubious schemes, but we do not consider them. We are for a fair market, aren’t we?

Sub-segment B: the company purchases chairs for employees

Here, despite the fact that this is still the same B2B segment, the interests will be completely different. And, as in the previous case, a lot depends on who the decision maker is.

1. When the decision maker is the director of the company: he or she faces a difficult choice. On the one hand, CEO wants to save money in order to cut costs, because it’s not just one chair to buy, but many. On the other hand, buying frankly cheap stuff is also bad, because uncomfortable furniture can break (and these are losses) and have a bad effect on productivity and loyalty of the staff. So, the director is looking for the best option to save money and do well for employees. But not because he or she is so kind, but because the company income directly depends on it (via productivity, loyalty, turnover, etc.)
   
2. When the decision maker is an office manager or supply manager: here everything is simpler and more difficult at the same time. This type of decision maker, as a rule, carries out orders, does not make strategic decisions, but simply fulfills an application. Therefore, he or she needs to choose the best option within the conditions of the current task (budget, requirements for consumer qualities, etc.), so that the management eventually remains satisfied and has no complaints. Moreover, applications for chairs, for example, for the department of programmers, who almost live in the office, and for accounting can vary greatly.

Conclusion

This is how it turns out that the same chair, with the same properties, but in different segments (B2B and B2C) and sub-segments covers completely different audience interests and needs. Try doing the same exercise for products that are close to you to practice and see how it goes.

Best regards, Dan.

P.S. Here’s my systemic free copywriting course, if you want to learn more.