urn. Catastrophic churn is bad because it means that the consumer has lost faith in the provider. The customer is SO unhappy that the normal buying cycle is abandoned to correct what is perceived as a purchase mistake. Natural Churn The other kind of churn for a car buyer can hardly be considered churn at all. In this case, the buyer is going through the normal shopping cycle and chooses a different provider the next time a decision needs to be made. For example, a woman may buy a Buick Regal. She likes it, is happy with it, and drives it with no problems for three years. This person will certainly look at the latest model Buicks when the shopping cycle begins. But she may find that there is a Dodge brand automobile that is just as nice and includes some new features that the Buick doesn't have. So our Buick owner becomes a Dodge buyer, and the shopping cycle starts all over again. Natural churn has some negative consequences for the seller of the original car, just as catastrophic churn does. After all, the sale is lost. However, the big difference is that the company has suffered no serious damage in terms of its reputation with the buyer. During Chapter 5 the next cycle, the buyer will once again include Buick as one of the options. In the catastrophic case, there is a very good chance that the customer will not even consider the Buick again for many cycles because of the bad associations in the buyer's mind. Shopping Cycles for Convenience Stores Understanding the nature of the customer/provider relationship and learning to manage it is aided greatly when we understand the normal shopping cycle for the product or service in question. The retail industry is rich with examples of many kinds of cycles with the nature of the cycle dependent on the particular products, services, and consumers. One business with an incredibly short shopping cycle is the convenience store. Included in this market are the 7-11 stores, gas station convenience markets, and other vendors who attract people interested in making a quick p