Research Guides: Porter's Five Forces Analysis: Power of Buyers

The Power of Buyers. What is it?

Power of Buyers

Buyers have the power to influence price and the quantity of products sold. Powerful buyers can bargain on volume or switching costs or they can simply find substitute products. Price sensitivity also impacts the buyer/seller relationship.

Questions to Ask

Can buyers impact the company's bottom line?

Who is the buyer? Are there many buyers or few? Are buyers concentrated?

What are the demographics of the consumer?

Are buyers price sensitive? What is the relationship of price to consumption?

What is your product? How does it differentiate itself from others (brand/quality/cost)? Can buyers substitute? Are customers brand loyal?

How does your product get to the market? What are the common distribution channels? Can buyers vertically integrate?

How to Search for Buyer Power

You can search newspapers and trade journals for articles about a company's products or brands. In databases like Business Source and ABI/Inform, be sure to use the All Text field when searching by brand name.

When researching buyer power, search by company name or product combined with words like customer, consumer, or distribution channel. You can also search by company name and the subjects brand loyalty, brand choice, or consumer attitudes.

Use these databases:

Identify the Buyers

Mintel Academic
Mintel reports cover consumer product industries in the U.S. and the UK., especially emerging or niche industries. From the home page, open the "Category Overview" tab and choose an industry Sector. All Mintel reports have four parts: Market, Consumer, Brand/Company and Data. Read the Consumer section for analysis of buyer attitudes and behavior and the Data section for numbers on consumer segmentation.

Research Consumer Demographics and Lifestyle

Passport (Euromonitor)
Passport offers industry research, company analysis, consumer profiles and news for markets in over 200 countries. Start at the "Consumers" tab (top of the home page) to find reports on "Consumer Trends and Lifestyles" and "Incomes and Expenditures." Find their annual report on "Consumer Lifestyles in the US" as well as reports on boomers, millennials and other demographic groups.
Mintel Academic
Mintel market research reports analyze consumer attitudes and marketing strategies for various industry sectors. Mintel also publishes Demographic reports covering Affluent Consumers, Baby Boomers, Kids, Men, Mothers, Teens and others. Find the demographic reports by opening the "Category Overview" on the home page.
Simmons Insights
Simmons offers demographic and psychographic data about American consumers, the products/services they use, and the media they consume. Search by product and then use Simmons Lifestyle Statements to learn about the preferences and habits of your target demographic.

Research Consumer Attitudes and Spending

American Consumer Satisfaction Index
The ACSI measures satisfaction with individual companies, industries, and the economy as a whole. Find ratings for more than 300 companies in 43 industries and 10 economic sectors. The data is gathered and analyzed by the University of Michigan National Quality Research Center.
Pew Research Center
The Pew Research Center conducts public opinion polling and demographic research. Open the "Topics" tab for reports and news on: African Americans, Lifestyle, Baby Boomers, Millennials, Hispanic/Latino Demographics, the Middle Class, and more.
Consumer Expenditure Survey
The CES provides information on the buying habits of American consumers, including data on their expenditures, income, and consumer unit (families and single consumers) characteristics. The survey data are collected for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Global Consumer Insights Survey
PWC publishes an annual survey of consumer shopping attitudes and buying habits.

Research Corporate Brand Value and Rankings

WARC
This marketing/advertising database offers their own market research as well as news, case studies and research articles. Begin any search at "Topics" (at the top of the home page). The topic "Brands and Branding" offers coverage of brand analysis, brand identity, brand values and more.

Corebrand: BrandPower Rankings and Index
Tenet Partners measures value of the corporate brand name of publicly traded companies in a ranking of the Top 100 Most Powerful Brands of the Year. Brand value is measured by high awareness and positive brand perceptions. Their annual ranking is free; full reports require registration.
Kantar BrandZ Ranking
Annual ranking of the top 100 most valuable global brands by a leading market research firm.
Brands of the Year
The annual Harris Poll Equi-Trend Rankings measure consumer perception of brand equity based on familiarity, quality, and consideration.