Chapter 16
Product Distribution
By Boundless
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Intermediaries are a powerful resource that enable organizations to outsource specific business functions in order to focus more on their core competency.
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Utilizing intermediaries reduces organizational complexity and allows firms to focus on developing a core competency through specialization.
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While organizations gain advantage by collaborating with intermediaries, there are costs involved to consider.
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Marketing channels are sets of interdependent organizations involved in making a product or service available for use or consumption.
A channel for industrial goods is a set of interdependent organizations in the process of making products/services available for use.
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Store retailers vary in size, in the kinds of services, the assortment of merchandise they carry, and many other respects.
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Non-store retailing is the selling of goods and services outside the confines of a retail facility.
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Online retailing is a form of electronic commerce where consumers directly buy goods or services from a seller using the Internet.
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Telemarketing is a method of direct marketing where a salesperson solicits prospective customers directly, usually over the phone.
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A vending machine can dispense a wide variety of merchandise when the consumer inserts money into it.
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A retail kiosk (or mall kiosk) is a store operated out of a merchant supplied kiosk.
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Direct selling is the marketing and selling of products directly to consumers, away from a fixed retail location.
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Cargo (or freight) is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, intermodal train, van, or truck.
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Inventory represents finished and unfinished goods that have not yet been sold by a company.
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A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods.
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Materials handling is the movement, storage, control, and protection of materials during their manufacturing, distribution, consumption, and disposal.
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Shipping is a physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea.
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Supply chain management is the management of the network of interconnected steps involved in the provision of product and service packages.