About Distribution

Channels of Distribution

A supply chain is consisting of all parties and their supplied activities that help a marketer create and deliver products to the final customer.

For marketers, the distribution decision is primarily concerned with the supply chain’s front-end or channels of distribution that are designed to move the product (goods or services) from the hands of the company to the hands of the customer. Obviously when we talk about intangible services the use of the word “hands” is a figurative way to describe the exchange that takes place. But the idea is the same as with tangible goods. All activities and organizations helping with the exchange are part of the marketer’s channels of distribution.

Activities involved in the channel are wide and varied though the basic activities revolve around these general tasks:

• Ordering
• Handling and shipping
• Storage
• Display
• Promotion
• Selling
• Information feedback

Type of Channel Members

Channel activities may be carried out by the marketer or the marketer may seek specialist organizations to assist with certain functions. We can classify specialist organizations into two broad categories: resellers and specialty service firms.

Resellers: These organizations, also known within some industries as intermediaries, distributors or dealers, generally purchase or take ownership of products from the marketing company with the intention of selling to others. If a marketer utilizes multiple resellers within its distribution channel strategy the collection of resellers is termed a Reseller Network. These organizations can be classified into several sub-categories including:

• Retailers » Organizations that sell products directly to final consumers.
• Wholesalers » Organizations that purchase products from suppliers, such as manufacturers or other wholesalers, and in turn sell these to other resellers, such as retailers or other wholesalers.
• Industrial Distributors » Firms that work mainly in the business-to-business market selling products obtained from industrial suppliers.

Specialty Service Firms: These are organizations that provide additional services to help with the exchange of products but generally do not purchase the product (i.e., do not take ownership of the product):

• Agents and Brokers » Organizations that mainly work to bring suppliers and buyers together in exchange for a fee.
• Distribution Service Firms » Offer services aiding in the movement of products such as assistance with transportation, storage, and order processing.
• Others » This category includes firms that provide additional services to aid in the distribution process such as insurance companies and firms offering transportation routing assistance.

Importance of Distribution Channels

As noted, distribution channels often require the assistance of others in order for the marketer to reach its target market. But why exactly does a company need others to help with the distribution of their product? Wouldn’t a company that handles its own distribution functions be in a better position to exercise control over product sales and potentially earn higher profits? Also, doesn’t the Internet make it much easier to distribute products thus lessening the need for others to be involved in selling a company’s product?

While on the surface it may seem to make sense for a company to operate its own distribution channel (i.e., handling all aspects of distribution) there are many factors preventing companies from doing so. While companies can do without the assistance of certain channel members, for many marketers some level of channel partnership is needed. For example, marketers who are successful without utilizing resellers to sell their product (e.g., Dell Computers sells mostly through the Internet and not in retail stores) may still need assistance with certain parts of the distribution process (e.g., Dell uses parcel post shippers such as FedEx and UPS). In Dell’s case creating their own transportation system makes little sense given how large such a system would need to be in order to service Dell’s customer base. Thus, by using shipping companies Dell is taking advantage of the benefits these services offer to Dell and to Dell’s customers.

Distribution Decisions

Having a strong product does little good if customers are not able to easily and conveniently obtain it. With this in mind we turn to a major marketing decision area: distribution.

Distribution decisions focus on establishing a system that, at its basic level, allows customers to gain access and purchase a marketer’s product. However, marketers may find that getting to the point at which a customer can acquire a product is complicated, time consuming, and expensive. The bottom line is a marketer’s distribution system must be both effective (i.e., delivers a good or service to the right place, in the right amount, in the right condition) and efficient (i.e., delivers at the right time and for the right cost). Yet, as we will see, achieving these goals takes considerable effort.

Distribution decisions are relevant for nearly all types of products. While it is easy to see how distribution decisions impact physical goods, such as laundry detergent or truck parts, distribution is equally important for digital goods (e.g., television programming, downloadable music) and services (e.g., income tax services). In fact, while the Internet is playing a major role in changing product distribution and is perceived to offer more opportunities for reaching customers, online marketers still face the same distribution issues and obstacles as those faced by offline marketers.

In order to facilitate an effective and efficient distribution system many decisions must be made including (but certainly not limited to):

• Assessing the best distribution channels for getting products to customers
• Determining whether a reseller network is needed to assist in the distribution process
• Arranging a reliable ordering system that allows customers to place orders
• Creating a delivery system for transporting the product to the customer
• For tangible and digital goods, establishing facilities for product storage

Cost & Benefits of Channel Partner

When choosing a distribution strategy a marketer must determine what value a channel member adds to the firm’s products. Remember, customers assess a product’s value by looking at many factors including those that surround the product (i.e., augmented product). Several surrounding features can be directly influenced by channel members, such as customer service, delivery, and availability. Consequently, for the marketer selecting a channel partner involves a value analysis in the same way customers make purchase decisions. That is, the marketer must assess the benefits received from utilizing a channel partner versus the cost incurred for using the services.

Benefits Offered by Channel Members:

• Cost Savings in Specialization » Members of the distribution channel are specialists in what they do and can often perform tasks better and at lower cost than companies who do not have distribution experience. Marketers attempting to handle too many aspects of distribution may end up exhausting company resources as they learn how to distribute, resulting in the company being “a jack of all trades but master of none.”
• Reduce Exchange Time » Not only are channel members able to reduce distribution costs by being experienced at what they do, they often perform their job more rapidly resulting in faster product delivery. For instance, consider what would happen if a grocery store received direct shipment from EVERY manufacturer that sells products in the store. This delivery system would be chaotic as hundreds of trucks line up each day to make deliveries, many of which would consist of only a few boxes. On a busy day a truck may sit for hours waiting for space so they can unload their products. Instead, a better distribution scheme may have the grocery store purchasing its supplies from a grocery wholesaler that has its own warehouse for handling simultaneous shipments from a large number of suppliers. The wholesaler will distributes to the store in the quantities the store needs, on a schedule that works for the store, and often in a single truck, all of which speeds up the time it takes to get the product on the store’s shelves.
• Customers Want to Conveniently Shop for Variety » Marketers have to understand what customers want in their shopping experience. Referring back to our grocery store example, consider a world without grocery stores and instead each marketer of grocery products sells through their own stores. As it is now, shopping is time consuming, but consider what would happen if customers had to visit multiple retailers each week to satisfy their grocery needs. Hence, resellers within the channel of distribution serve two very important needs: 1) they give customers the products they want by purchasing from many suppliers (termed accumulating and assortment services), and 2) they make it convenient to purchase by making products available in single location.
• Resellers Sell Smaller Quantities » Not only do resellers allow customers to purchase products from a variety of suppliers, they also allow customers to purchase in quantities that work for them. Suppliers though like to ship products they produce in large quantities since this is more cost effective than shipping smaller amounts. For instance, consider what it costs to drive a truck a long distance. In terms of operational expenses for the truck (e.g., fuel, truck driver’s cost) let’s assume it costs (US) $1,000 to go from point A to point B. Yet in most cases, with the exception of a little decrease in fuel efficiency, it does not cost that much more to drive the truck whether it is filled with 1000 boxes containing the product or whether it only has 100 boxes. But when transportation costs are considered on a per product basis ($1 per box vs. $10 per box) the cost is much less for a full truck. The ability of intermediaries to purchase large quantities but to resell them in smaller quantities (referred to as bulk breaking) not only makes these products available to those wanting smaller quantities but the reseller is able to pass along to their customers a significant portion of the cost savings gained by purchasing in large volume.
• Create Sales » Resellers are at the front line when it comes to creating demand for the marketer’s product. In some cases resellers perform an active selling role using persuasive techniques to encourage customers to purchase a marketer’s product. In other cases they encourage sales of the product through their own advertising efforts and using other promotional means such as special product displays.
• Offer Financial Support » Resellers often provide programs that enable customers to more easily purchase products by offering financial programs that ease payment requirements. These programs include allowing customers to: purchase on credit; purchase using a payment plan; delay the start of payments; and allowing trade-in or exchange options.
• Provide Information » Companies utilizing resellers for selling their products depend on distributors to provide information that can help improve the product. High-level intermediaries may offer their suppliers real-time access to sales data including information showing how products are selling by such characteristics as geographic location, type of customer, and product location (e.g., where located within a store, where found on a website). If high-level information is not available, marketers can often count on resellers to provide feedback as to how customers are responding to products. This feedback can occur either through surveys or interviews with reseller’s employees or by requesting the reseller allow the marketer to survey customers.

Costs of Utilizing Channel Members

• Loss of Revenue � Resellers are not likely to offer services to a marketer unless they see financial gain in doing so. They obtain payment for their services as either direct payment (e.g., marketer pays for shipping costs) or, in the case of resellers, by charging their customers more than what they paid the marketer for acquiring the product (termed markup). For the latter, marketers have a good idea of what the final customer will pay for their product which means the marketer must charge less when selling the product to resellers. In these situations marketers are not reaping the full sale price by using resellers, which they may be able to do if they sold directly to the customer.
• Loss of Communication Control � Marketers not only give up revenue when using resellers, they may also give up control of the message being conveyed to customers. If the reseller engages in communication activities, such as personal selling in order to get customers to purchase the product, the marketer is no longer controlling what is being said about the product. This can lead to miscommunication problems with customers, especially if the reseller embellishes the benefits the product provides to the customer. While marketers can influence what is being said by training reseller’s salespeople, they lack ultimate control of the message.
• Loss of Product Importance � Once a product is out of the marketer’s hands the importance of that product is left up to channel members. If there are pressing issues in the channel, such as transportation problems, or if a competitor is using promotional incentives in an effort to push their product through resellers, the marketer’s product may not get the attention the marketer feels it should receive.

Channel Arrangements

The distribution channel consists of many parties each seeking to meet their own business objectives. Clearly for the channel to work well, relationships between channel members must be strong with each member understanding and trusting others on whom they depend for product distribution to flow smoothly. For instance, a small sporting goods retailer that purchases products from a wholesaler trusts the wholesaler to deliver required items on-time in order to meet customer demand, while the wholesaler counts on the retailer to place regular orders and to make on-time payments.

Relationships in a channel are in large part a function of the arrangement that occurs between the members. These arrangements can be divided in two main categories: independent and dependent.

Independent Channel Arrangement

Under this arrangement a channel member negotiates deals with others that do not result in binding relationships. In other words, a channel member is free to make whatever arrangements they feel is in their best interest. This so-called �conventional� distribution arrangement often leads to significant conflict as individual members decide what is best for them and not necessarily for the entire channel. On the other hand, an independent channel arrangement is less restrictive than dependent arrangements and makes it easier for a channel members to move away from relationships they feel are not working to their benefit.

Dependent Channel Arrangement

Under this arrangement a channel member feels tied to one or more members of the distribution channel. Sometimes referred to as �vertical marketing systems� this approach makes it more difficult for an individual member to make changes to how products are distributed. However, the dependent approach provides much more stability and consistency since members are united in their goals. The dependent channel arrangement can be broken down into three types:

• Corporate » Under this arrangement a supplier operates its own distribution system in a manor that produces an integrated channel. This occurs most frequently in the retail industry where a supplier operates a chain of retail stores. Starbucks is a company that does this. They import and process coffee and then sell it under their own brand name in their own stores. It should be mentioned that Starbucks also distributes their products in other ways, such as through grocery stores and mail order. As we will see in more detail later, Starbucks is using a multi-channel structure to market their products.
• Contractual » Under this arrangement a legal document obligates members to agree on how a product is distributed. Often times the agreement specifically spells out which activities each member is permitted to perform or not perform. This type of arrangement can occur in several formats including:
  • Wholesaler-sponsored » where a wholesaler brings together and manages many independent retailers including having the retailers use the same name
  • Retailer-sponsored » this format also brings together retailers but the retailers are responsible for managing the relationship
  • Franchised » where a central organization controls nearly all activities of other members
• Administrative » In certain channel arrangements a single member may dominate the decisions that occur within the channel. These situations occur when one channel member has achieved a significant power position. This most likely occurs if a manufacturer has significant power due to brands in strong demand by target markets (e.g., Procter &Gamble) or if a retailer has significant power due to size and market coverage (e.g., Wal-Mart). In most cases the arrangement is understood to occur and is not bound by legal or financial arrangements.

Factors in Creating Distribution Channels

Like most marketing decisions, a great deal of research and thought must go into determining how to carry out distribution activities in a way that meets a marketer’s objectives. The marketer must consider many factors when establishing a distribution system. Some factors are directly related to marketing decisions while others are affected by relationships that exist with members of the channel.

Next we examine the key factors to consider when designing a distribution strategy. We group these into two main categories: marketing decision issues and channel relationship issues. In turn, each of these categories contains several topics of concern to marketers.

Marketing Decision Issues

Distribution strategy can be shaped by how decisions are made in other marketing areas.

Product Issues

The nature of the product often dictates the distribution options available especially if the product requires special handling. For instance, companies selling delicate or fragile products, such as flowers, look for shipping arrangements that are different than those sought for companies selling extremely tough or durable products, such as steel beams.

Promotion Issues

Besides issues related to physical handling of products, distribution decisions are affected by the type of promotional activities needed to sell the product to customers. For products needing extensive salesperson-to-customer contact (e.g., automobile purchases) the distribution options are different than for products where customers typically require no sales assistance (i.e., bread purchases).

Pricing Issues

The desired price at which a marketer seeks to sell their product can impact how they choose to distribute. As previously mentioned, the inclusion of resellers in a marketer’s distribution strategy may affect a product’s pricing since each member of the channel seeks to make a profit for their contribution to the sale of the product. If too many channel members are involved the eventual selling price may be too high to meet sales targets in which case the marketer may explore other distribution options.