Final Customer Buying from the Product Producer

Acquire Steps: Acquire steps include all activities the customer completes preceding the use or the consumption of the product. These steps include the customer's efforts needed for evaluation and acquisition of the product.

2. Emotional: Segment customers according to the personal emotional needs of the segment.

B. Needs to avoid sources of anxiety

2. Limitations set by time: Segment customers according to the causes of the limitations set by time.

Delay related to purchase and installation: Segment customers according to delays before the customer receives or can use the product.
Segments where delays cause customers to be inactive. Delays caused by time required for:

Product delivery

No. SIC Year Note
1 3571 2004 Compaq believes that shorter lead times will provide a quantum leap in value for customers. The company is currently working on a delivery option that will permit its products to be built to customers' specifications and shipped within a 48 hours of the order.
2 3661 2000 Competitor Brocade Comm. is the first mover and the market leader in storage area network switches, but Anchor has seized market share with intense sales tactics and impressive technology including the first 64 port switch.
3 3669 2002 Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, a new high-tech method of product identification, has been piloted by McDonald's Corp., which is using the chip-based technology to create a system for checkout.
4 3674 1987 Fujitsu America Inc. has a satellite link for sending chip designs to its waiting production line in Japan. This allows Fujitsu to deliver semi-custom chips to North America in less than 8 weeks–no more than it takes most US chipmakers.
5 3711 1997 Car makers have globalized to cut costs and have used the build-where-you-sell approach to globalization. Toyota will soon overtake Chrysler to become one of the three car producers in the US.
6 4131 1993 A new computer software program to be installed midyear will allow Greyhound passengers to buy their tickets in advance, using a toll-free telephone number.
7 4512 2002 After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, most airlines prepared for hard times by slashing traveler extras, eliminating many meals, pulling magazines off planes and closing some ticket offices and airport clubs. Not Continental Airlines. It decided cabin comforts were more important than saving a few bucks. It has gone ahead on pushing projects intended to woo travelers. Continental spent aggressively to add security checkpoints and self-service check-in kiosks. In December, Continental's traffic was down only 10.6%, the smallest decline among the six biggest airlines. In the fourth quarter, Continental's planes were more full than those of its competitors.
8 4512 2004 Delta has been a leader in allowing customers to print boarding passes at kiosks.
9 4813 2001 By 2002, most of Sprint's network should be upgraded. One new feature will be the "always-on" capability of the network. In the short term, faster data speeds will help Sprint PCS keep customers from switching to other carriers.
10 4813 2001 Already El Paso owns the second largest fiber network in Houston, with connections to every central office switch operated by regional phone giant SBC communications. The company also has taken over telecom companies in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where more than 100 long haul carriers connect with local fiber lines in so called meet me rooms similar to old fashioned telephone switchboards. With upgrades in the equipment, it will soon be able to connect a corporate customer to a long distance carrier in minutes rather than the 24 hours it normally takes.
11 5812 2002 At Sonic, there aren't any indoor tables or counters. The customer drives into a covered carport, looks at the menu, and presses a button once he is ready to order.
12 7011 2003 Three big Chicago hotels operated by Hilton shut their in-house reservations desks. Callers get an automated answering system that routes them to agents in Dallas. Hilton leaves nearly all cost-cutting decisions up to local managers, who are responsible for meeting specific profit margins. Marriott, one of the largest of the big-brand hotel-management chains, says it isn't seeing decreases in guest satisfaction.

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