Marketing Management, 16th Edition

Supplier Selection

Business buyers seek the highest benefit package (economic, technical, service, and social) in relationship to a market offering’s costs. The strength of their incentive to purchase is a function of the difference between perceived benefits and perceived costs.23 The attributes that buyers commonly use to evaluate vendors include price, reputation, reliability, and agility. Before selecting a supplier, the buying center will specify and rank desired supplier attributes, often using a supplier-evaluation model to rate suppliers based on their performance on the attributes valued by the buyer.

Business marketers must therefore ensure that customers fully appreciate how the firm’s offerings are different and better. To this end, ...