The document discusses product distribution and marketing intermediaries. It defines "place" in the marketing mix as how a product moves from producer to user through distribution channels. Marketing intermediaries like distributors, wholesalers and retailers create efficiency by connecting many suppliers to many consumers. They fulfill information and logistics roles. A supply chain involves all parties involved in moving a product from source to customer. Distribution methods include exclusive, intensive and selective approaches using different numbers of retailers. Wholesalers sell merchandise to other businesses, while retailers sell directly to consumers.
2. PLACE
In the marketing mix, the process of moving products from
the producer to the intended user is called place. In other
words, it is how your product is bought and where it is
bought. This movement could be through a combination of
intermediaries such as distributors, wholesalers and
retailers. In addition, a newer method is the internet which
itself is a marketplace now.
3. WHY THERE IS A NEED OF MARKETING
INTERMEDIARIES?
Marketing intermediaries fulfill an information role and a logistics
role. They create value by adding efficiency to marketplaces for
goods or services which are inherently “many-to-many” in nature.
That is, most markets have many suppliers, and many consumers. It
may be inefficient for every supplier to establish contact with and
interact directly with every consumer. Likewise, it may be
cumbersome for every consumer to contact every supplier directly
in making and implementing a buying decision.
4. What Are the Functions of Intermediaries in
a Distribution Channel?
by Ian Linton
Direct and
Indirect
Channels
Selling Through
Agents
Reaching More
Customers
Through
Retailers
Simplifying
Logistics
through
Wholesalers
Cooperative
Marketing
Through
Distributors
5. SUPPLY CHAIN
is a system of organizations, people, activities,
information, and resources involved in moving
a product orservice from supplier to customer. Supply chain
activities involve the transformation of natural
resources, raw materials, and components into a finished
product that is delivered to the end customer.[2] In
sophisticated supply chain systems, usedproducts may re-
enter the supply chain at any point where residual
value is recyclable.
6. TYPES OF PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION
• Exclusive distribution is an extreme form of selective
distribution in which only one wholesaler, retailer or
distributor is used in a specific geographical area.
EXCLUSIVE
DISTRIBUTION
•Intensive distribution aims to provide saturation coverage of the market
by using all available outlets. For many products, total sales are directly
linked to the number of outlets used (e.g., cigarettes, beer). Intensive
distribution is usually required where customers have a range of
acceptable brands to choose from. In other words, if one brand is not
available, a customer will simply choose another.
INTENSIVE
DISTRIBUTION
•Selective distribution involves a producer using a limited number of
outlets in a geographical area to sell products. An advantage of this
approach is that the producer can choose the most appropriate or best-
performing outlets and focus effort (e.g., training) on them. Selective
distribution works best when consumers are prepared to “shop around” –
in other words – they have a preference for a particular brand or price
and will search out the outlets that supply.
SELECTIVE
DISTRIBUTION
7. Wholesaling
Wholesaling, the selling of merchandise to anyone
other than a retail customer. The merchandise may
be sold to a retailer, a wholesaler, or to an
enterprise that will use it for business, rather than
individual, purposes. Wholesaling usually, but not
necessarily, involves sales in quantity and at a cost
that is significantly lower than the average retail
price.
8. Retailing
Retailing, the selling of merchandise and certain services
to consumers. It ordinarily involves the selling of
individual units or small lots to large numbers of
customers by a business set up for that specific purpose. In
the broadest sense, retailing can be said to have begun the
first time one item of value was bartered for another. In the
more restricted sense of a specialized full-time commercial
activity, retailing began several thousand years ago when
peddlers first began hawking their wares and when the
first marketplaces were formed.