Marketing Channels, aka Distribution
Let’s Cut Out the Middleman! Egg farmers get about $1.00/dozen We pay twice that at the grocery store. We are getting ripped off! Solicit a distribution channel from the audience. Should get something like: Big egg farmer brokerretailerconsumer Consider eggs when trucks were just arriving on the scene. Louis Weld in 1912 Egg farmer Egg farmer Egg farmer egg collective (grading and sorting) egg broker City wholesaler M&P Grocery M&P Grocery
Are we?
What valued services do intermediaries provide? Form Time Place Possession
External Changes Create Opportunities and Threats to the Existing Channel Structure Technological Economic Social Political Natural
Channel Partners also drive change by exercising power Coercive Reward Legitimate Referent Expert Informational
Managerial choices for channels Baseline selection: Direct Indirect
Some Options for Indirect Manufacturer’s Representatives Distributors/Wholesalers Agents/Brokers
So how do you pick?
So how do you pick? Fit with your: Customer Characteristics Existing Distribution System Product/Service Attributes
A Warning Channel selection is not just a marketing question. The choices you make for channels affect the rest of the company.
Closing Thoughts: Intermediaries provide services others do not wish to provide. Existing channels are the cheapest way to accomplish the needed tasks in the current environment. Changes in the external environment drive changes in channels of distribution. Channel partners drive change via power.