(A) Product attribute, Customer needs and Buying Process
Buying process can be differentiated into 4 stages:
–Need identification
-water is important for human body since about 70% of human body is made by water.
- eg. Someone needs to drink water after doing exercise in order to recover his/her body.
–and evaluation
-Customers usually compare one water product with another brand’s water product before make a final decision.
-they typically think about the price, quality, and taste of the product.
–Transaction
- Some business companies buy it for their office, and they buy it in large quantity; whereas some individuals buy it for themselves
-in B to B, as business companies buy it in large size of quantity, specific amount can be delivered by the suppliers.
–Usage and maintenance -the bottle of water can be reused, replaced, recycled, or returned to the suppliers.
–Disposal
During the buying process, customers always have several needs, either tangible or intangible.
Customers generally concern about the needs on Monetary, Time (convenient), Physiological, and Psychological and Confidence dimensions. Monetary and Time is the benefit/cost and opportunity time saving/lost appeared by buying/having the service, Physiological and Psychological are the effects on emotion and health during the transaction.
(B) Major market segments and differences in product/service attribute between 2 to 3 major competitors [e.g. Bonaque, Vita]
i. Major market segments
In bottled water industry, water manufacturers are generally having three target markets: office, retail and household.
Hong Kong is a business society. Many people work in commercial building nearly whole day, they have no time to boil water in the office. Water manufactures.
Besides office, the company also focuses retail and domestic market supplies. It provides a wide range size of water, which is portable and convenient for people with different needs.
ii. Differences in product