Distribution Strategy
Marketers develop distribution strategies to ensure that consumers find their products in the proper quantities at the right times and places.
Distribution decisions involve modes of transportation, warehousing, inventory control, order processing, and selection of marketing channels. Marketing channels are made up of institutions such as retailers and wholesalers—all those involved in a product’s movement from producer to final consumer.
Technology is opening new channels of distribution in many industries. For example, software, a product made of digital data files, is ideally suited to electronic distribution. Major players like Netscape, Sun Microsystems, and Microsoft Corp. already distribute their programs and upgrades directly over the Internet. Electronic commerce holds great promise for providing quick response to purchasers while markedly reducing prices by slashing packaging and shipping costs, cutting out many intermediaries, and allowing online shoppers to look for the best prices from both domestic and international suppliers.
Distribution strategy is covered in more detail in Pan 6. Topics include marketing channels and logistics management (Chapter 13) and retailing, direct marketing, and wholesaling.