Using Marketing Channels to Create Value for Customers
Read this chapter, which explains that a direct marketing channel consists of just two parties: the producer and the consumer. By contrast, a channel that includes one or more intermediaries (wholesalers, distributors, brokers, or agents) is an indirect channel. Firms often utilize multiple channels to reach more customers and increase their effectiveness. Some companies find ways to increase their sales by forming strategic channel alliances. Other companies look for ways to cut out the middlemen from the channel, known as disintermediation. Direct foreign investment, joint ventures, exporting, franchising, and licensing are some of the channels by which firms attempt to enter foreign markets.
Marketing Channels and Channel Partners
Key Takeaway
How
a product moves from raw material to finished good to the consumer is a
marketing channel, also called a supply chain. Marketing channel
decisions are as important as the decisions companies make about the
features and prices of products. Channel partners are firms that
actively promote and sell a product as it travels through its channel to
its user. Companies try to choose the best channels and channel
partners to help them sell products because doing so can give them a
competitive advantage.