CASE STUDY PROTECTOR AND GAMBLE
6-18 Compare and contrast the nature of the business market structure and demand relative
to consumer market structure and demand for a specific P&G product.
ANS The business market typically has far fewer, but much larger, buyers than the consumer
market. Most of P&G’s customers are huge and complex companies like Walmart, Walgreens or
Dollar General with thousands of stores and billions in sales. pampers is one of P&G’s products
that P&G representatives and their teams often know more about than the retailers they
advise. Commercial markets have inelastic and fluctuating demand. Overall demand for many
commercial products is not greatly affected by price changes, especially in the short term. P&G
would not increase or decrease the amount of material used to make Pampers due to
fluctuating prices as retail customers wait to be supplied.
6-19 For the same product, discuss the differences in the types of decisions and the decision
process for business and consumer markets.
ANS Commercial buyers are often faced with more complex purchasing decisions than
consumers. As for the case of pampers a dedicated “Customer Business Development” (CBD) is
awarded to large retail buyers in order to establish and maintain strategic partnerships with
