Over the past two years of our research on the B2B buying journey, buyers in the manufacturing industry have set themselves apart from their peers in other industries. They evaluate fewer vendors, assemble smaller buying groups, and experience shorter buying cycles, among other unique behaviors.
In our report, The Impact of Industry on the B2B Buying Journey, we highlighted how manufacturers’ buying journeys differ from those of their peers, detailing each key finding listed in the table above. In this current report, we explore the underlying reasons for these differences.
Hardware and Machinery Purchases Involve Less Complex Buying Journeys
A buying journey that looks markedly different naturally prompts the question: is what they’re buying different, too? Unsurprisingly, manufacturing buyers are nearly three times more likely to purchase hardware and machinery than their peers in other industries. What’s especially important about this is that hardware and machinery investments consistently fall into a lower cost bracket than software and services.
The lower price tag of hardware and machinery drives simpler buying cycles not only for manufacturers but also for buyers across industries. For these less costly investments, buyers in all sectors typically evaluate fewer vendors (3 to 4 instead of 4 to 5), involve smaller buying groups, have fewer interactions, and complete purchases in shorter cycles. Thus, manufacturers aren’t unique in how they purchase hardware and machinery. However, because over half of their purchases are hardware or machinery, these simpler cycles lower manufacturers’ overall complexity averages compared to other industries, which more frequently invest in higher-cost, complex solutions like services and software.
Manufacturers Apply Their Simplified Evaluation Process to All Types of Purchases
Where manufacturing buyers are unique compared to their peers is in how they approach software and services purchases. Even for higher-cost, complex solutions, manufacturing buyers appear to follow the same streamlined process they use for hardware and machinery purchases: they evaluate fewer vendors, assemble smaller buying groups, limit vendor interactions, and complete their buying cycles faster than their counterparts in other industries.
While all buyers tend to evaluate fewer vendors for hardware and machinery purchases, Manufacturing buyers also evaluate fewer vendors for software and services, unlike buyers in other industries.
Evaluating fewer vendors means fewer people are needed on the buying team. Manufacturing buyers’ shorter vendor lists result in smaller buying groups across all types of purchases.
Smaller buying groups in manufacturing mean fewer interactions overall, reducing the number of touchpoints each person has with vendors.
Manufacturing buyers evaluate fewer vendors, keeping their groups smaller, interactions limited, and buying cycles shorter.
The Manufacturer’s Approach
Manufacturers’ buying journeys differ in both approach and complexity, largely influenced by these buyers’ frequent purchases of hardware and machinery. These investments, typically lower in cost and simpler in structure, have shaped a buying process that manufacturers seem to carry over to more complex purchases, like software and services. By reducing vendor evaluations and keeping buying groups smaller, manufacturers have cultivated a no-nonsense approach that shortens their cycles compared to peers in other industries. As the B2B landscape evolves, understanding these unique patterns allows revenue teams to better align their strategies, recognizing that one size does not fit all—even for purchases generally known to be more complex.
