Part SixPart SixDistribution Decisions
1515Marketing Channels and
Supply Chain Management
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Objectives
1. To describe the nature and functions of marketing channels
2. To explain how supply chain management can facilitate distribution for the benefit of all channel members, especially customers
3. To identify the types of marketing channels
4. To examine the major levels of marketing coverage
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Objectives (cont’d)
5. To explore the concepts of leadership, cooperation, and conflict in channel relationships
6. To specify how channel integration can improve channel efficiency
7. To examine the legal issues affecting channel management
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Chapter Outline
• The Nature of Marketing Channels
• Types of Marketing Channels
• Intensity of Market Coverage
• Supply Chain Management
• Legal Issues in Channel Management
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The Nature of Marketing Channels
• Distribution– The activities that make products available
to customers when and where they want to purchase them
• Marketing Channel– A group of individuals
and organizations directing products from producers to customers
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The Nature of Marketing Channels (cont’d)
• Marketing Intermediary– A middleman linking producers to other
middlemen or to ultimate consumers through contractual arrangements or through the purchase and resale of products
ProducerProducerProducer
ProducerProducerProducer
CustomerCustomerCustomer
CustomerCustomerCustomerIntermediaryIntermediaryIntermediary
Direct ChannelDirect Channel
Indirect ChannelIndirect Channel
ProducerProducerProducer
ProducerProducerProducer
CustomerCustomerCustomer
CustomerCustomerCustomerIntermediaryIntermediaryIntermediary
ProducerProducerProducer
ProducerProducerProducer
CustomerCustomerCustomer
CustomerCustomerCustomerIntermediaryIntermediaryIntermediary
Direct ChannelDirect Channel
Indirect ChannelIndirect Channel
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The Nature of Marketing Channels (cont’d)
• Marketing Channels Create Utility– Time utility: have products
available when the customer wants them (newspaper delivery).
– Place utility: making products available in locations where the customers wish to purchase them (convenience stores).
– Possession utility: the customer has access to the product to use or to store for future use (raincoats).
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The Nature of Marketing Channels (cont’d)
• Marketing Channels Facilitate Exchange Efficiencies– Reduce the overall costs of marketing
exchanges– Reduce search costs
for customers– Maintain order in the
marketplace
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Efficiency in Exchanges Providedby an Intermediary
FIGURE 15.1
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Marketing Channels Form a Supply Chain
• Supply Chain Management– Long-term partnerships among marketing channel
members that reduce inefficiencies, costs, and redundancies and develop innovative approaches to satisfy customers
– Optimizes costs throughout the whole channel for efficiency and service
– Includes all entities that facilitate product distribution and benefit from cooperative efforts
– Arises from the need to achieve a more competitive position
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Typical Marketing Channels forConsumer Products
FIGURE 15.2
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Typical Marketing Channels forBusiness Products
FIGURE 15.3
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Distribution Intermediaries
• Industrial Distributor– An independent business that takes title to
business products and carries inventories– Advantages
• Perform needed selling activities in local markets• Are aware of local needs and can pass market
information on to producers• Reduce producers’ capital requirements by holding
inventories for local markets.
– Disadvantages• Difficult to control• Stocking of competing brands• Less likely to handle bulky and slow-selling items • Lack of technical knowledge
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Distribution Intermediaries (cont’d)
• Manufacturers’ Agent– An independent businessperson who sells, on
commission, the complementary products of several producers; does not take title to or hold inventories.
– Advantages• Possesses technical and market information• Has an established set of customers• Serves as a substitute for a sales force
– Disadvantages• Difficult to control• Concentration on only large accounts• Sales focus limited to commission-related activities
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Debate Issue
Does cutting out the intermediary cut costs?
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Multiple Marketing Channels and Channel Alliances
• Dual Distribution– The use of two or more channels to
distribute the same product to the same target market
• Strategic Channel Alliance– An agreement whereby the products of
one organization are distributed through the marketing channels of another
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Is This Product Distributed Through Multiple Marketing Channels?
Courtesy of Neutrogena Corp.
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Intensity of Market Coverage
• Intensive Distribution– Using all available outlets to distribute a
product.• Convenience products with high replacement
rates
– Provides availability and reduces search time
– Availability is more important than outlet type
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Intensity of Market Coverage (cont’d)
• Selective Distribution– Using only some available outlets to
distribute a product• Shopping products and durable
goods with low replacement rates
– High qualification requirements for intermediaries to distribute, sell, service, and support products
Tuscaloosa’s Only
Authorized Dealer
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Intensity of Market Coverage (cont’d)
• Exclusive Distribution– Using a single outlet in a fairly large
geographic area to distribute a product• Expensive, high-quality products purchased
infrequently
– Exclusive outlets provide an incentive to sellers in limited markets
– Dealers carry complete inventory and have trained staff for sales and service
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Are iPods Distributed Through Intensive, Selective, or Exclusive Distribution?
Reprinted with permission of Apple Computer, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Class Exercise
Identify the intensity of market coverage for each of the following products:
1.Potato chips
2.Gucci handbags
3.Large-screen televisions
4.Rolex watches
5.Clinique cosmetics
6.Carbonated beverages
7.Range Rover vehicles
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Class Exercise (cont’d)
8.Stereo systems
9.Levi jeans
10.IBM personal computers
11.Gasoline
12.Cannondale bicycles
13.Jaguar automobiles
14.Nintendo video games
15.Reebok shoes
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Supply Chain Management:Channel Leadership
• Channel Captain– The dominant member (producer,
wholesaler, or retailer) of a marketing channel or supply chain• Establishes channel policies and
coordinates development of the marketing mix
• Channel Power– The ability of one channel
member to influence another member’s goal achievement
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Supply Chain Management:Channel Cooperation
• Benefits of Cooperation– Speeds up inventory replacement– Improves customer service– Reduces distribution costs
• Improving Channel Cooperation– Unifying channel to maintain market order– Agreeing to direct efforts toward common
objectives– Precisely defining each channel member’s
tasks
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Supply Chain Management:Channel Conflict
• Sources of Channel Conflict– Disagreements arising among channel members– Communication difficulties jeopardizing
coordination– Increased use of multiple distribution channels by
manufacturers creating conflicts with distributors and retailers
– Intermediaries diversifying into and offering competing products
– Producers attempting to circumvent intermediaries and dealing directly with retailers
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Net Sights
• The Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum website (www.stanford.edu/group/scforum/Welcome/index.html) promotes excellence in global supply chain management. It is an example of cooperation between industry and academia to improve the way business is conducted on an international scale.
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Supply Chain Management:Channel Integration
• Vertical Channel Integration– Two or more stages of the marketing channel are
under one management– Channel members coordinate their efforts to
reach a target market
• Vertical Marketing System (VMS)– A marketing channel managed by a
single channel member to achieve efficient, low-cost distribution• Corporate VMS• Administered VMS• Contractual VMS
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Legal Issues in Channel Management
• Dual Distribution– A producer can use two different channels to
reach the same target market as long as it is not trying to engage in unfair competition and put its independent distributors out of business
• Restricted Sales Territories– Granting exclusive sales territory rights to
distributors is permissible if the rights do not restrain trade
• Tying Arrangements– Requiring a channel member to buy additional
products from the supplier in order to purchase a particular product from the supplier
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Legal Issues in Channel Management (cont’d)
• Full-Line Forcing– Requiring a channel member to carry a supplier’s
entire product line to obtain any of the supplier’s products
• Exclusive Dealing– Forbidding an intermediary to carry products of a
competing manufacturer– Is anticompetitive if
• it blocks competitors from 10% of the market• sales revenues are sizable• the manufacturer is larger than the dealer
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Class Exercise
Many manufacturers sell products in outlet stores at 25% to 70% off retail prices. Retailers do not like the added competition from their own suppliers despite manufacturers’ claims that they are only selling last season’s merchandise.
1. How could business objectives, buyer behavior, product attributes, or environmental forces affect a manufacturer’s decision to distribute through outlet stores?
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Class Exercise (cont’d)
2.By selling in outlet stores, how have these manufacturers changed their intensity of market coverage? How is customer service different at an outlet store?
3.Which of the following may be responsible for the conflict between manufacturers and retailers?• Lack of clear communication• Deviation from role expectations• Diversification into product lines traditionally
handled by other intermediaries
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Class Exercise (cont’d)
4. Should retailers develop store brands, refuse to stock certain items, or focus their buying power on one supplier or group of suppliers? How should the conflict be resolved?
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Legal Issues in Channel Management (cont’d)
• Refusal to Deal– Suppliers can choose their distributors and
refuse to deal with others so long as their decisions are not based on anticompetitive motives or are not part of an organized refusal-to-deal with certain channel members.
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After reviewing this chapter you should:
• Be able to describe the nature and functions of marketing channels.
• Be able to explain how supply chain management can facilitate distribution for the benefit of all channel members, especially customers.
• Be able to identify the types of marketing channels.
• Be familiar with the major levels of marketing coverage.
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After reviewing this chapter you should:
• Understand the concepts of leadership, cooperation, and conflict in channel relationships.
• Be able to specify how channel integration can improve channel efficiency.
• Be aware of the legal issues affecting channel management.
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Chapter Quiz
1. In a simple economy of five producers and five consumers, there would be _________ transactions possible without an intermediary and _________ transactions possible with one intermediary.a. ten; twenty-five
b. thirty; ten
c. twenty-five; fifteen
d. sixteen; eight
e. twenty-five; ten
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Chapter Quiz (cont’d)
2. Nationally distributed consumer convenience products are most likely distributed through which of the following channels?a. Producer, consumers
b. Producer, agents, wholesalers, retailers, consumers
c. Producer, wholesalers, consumers
d. Producer, wholesalers, retailers, consumers
e. Producer, industrial distributor, wholesalers, retailers, consumers
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Chapter Quiz (cont’d)
3. Honey Farms is a maker of fine chocolates. The company’s latest product, Fudge-Dipped Strawberries, is the premier product in its Fudge-Dipped line. The product is very expensive and targeted to upscale consumers. Which form of distribution would Honey Farms be likely to use for its new product?a. Intensiveb. Selectivec. Targeted d. Exclusivee. Premier
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Chapter Quiz (cont’d)
4. Goodyear allows companies like Sears and Discount Tire to distribute and discount its tires. This action significantly increases the possibility of channel _________ with independent Goodyear dealers.a. understanding
b. power
c. leadership
d. communication
e. conflict