Market Segments
The market segments in which Jones-Blair competes are as follows:
a) Architectural coatings: these include professional buyers and do-it-yourself buyers who mainly use the products for house redecorating, maintenance, and repair.
b) ORM coatings: these buyers are manufacturing firms of durable goods.
Decision Criteria
When buyers are deciding on an architectural good, they are affecting by two factors. The first is an alternative material, such as aluminum and vinyl siding, or interior wall coverings and wood paneling. If and when they do decide to go with paint, a new decision process becomes evident. The process starts with the decision on the product/project. This is where issues such as time, money, and whether the purchase is going to enhance an investment come into play. The next step is to gather information about the product. They can get this information from friends, retailers, consumer reports, magazines, and always from the Internet. After the information stage, the customer then decides on a store from which they are going to buy the product. Several factors help them decide on this (different store 46%; one store 27%; best price 22%). The last decision is based on a set of criteria that ranges from quality to ease of use.
When professionals are purchasing a product, they tend to be less price sensitive and more attracted to quality and durability. This is because their reputations are on the line and they want to deliver quality service with a quality product. This group also looks to retailers who will go the extra step to five them service.
Contractors, especially large ones, tend to be more price sensitive and will purchase items in bulk just to get the job done. They are no ...