Overview of Channels (14) Flashcards
What is a channel?
a path to market for goods and services.
What is distribution?
getting your new, innovative product to a place where customers can buy it
The inability to find the best distribution channels for products can…
limit a company’s success or even doom them to failure
distribution channels are also referred to as…
simply channels
distribution channels are also referred to simply as…
channels
A channel is a ____ to market for goods and services.
path A chain of retail stores is an example of a channel, as is an online store or a team of sales representatives. Amazon and Walmart serve as huge channels for the products of other brands. T
What are the two strategic questions many companies rely on channels to help answer?
- HOW DO YOU WANT TO SELL YOUR PRODUCT? 2. HOW DOES THE CUSTOMER WANT TO BUY YOUR PRODUCT?
For brands that make products, what method of distribution is best?
The answer is usually the one that get products into the biggest, most promising markets in ways that maximize product sales.
Brand that make products want to get their products int the biggest, most promising markets in ways that ________ product sales.
maximize
Bands may wish to sell their products through certain types of distribution channels, but how do customers want to buy those products?
Building the ideal channel for a product requires understanding how customers wish to buy it. Customers’ purchasing patterns may not match a company’s preferred channel for selling its products.
What the benefits of using a channel?
They create convenience for customers and for the brands that use them by providing access and availability to products that the brand itself cannot easily provide.
Channels create _______ for customers and for the brands that use them by providing access and ________ to products that the brand itself cannot easily provide.
convenience, availability
In most cases, a distribution channel is an ___________ between the products a brand manufactures and the customers who buy those products.
intermediary
An intermediary is a _______ _______
third party sometimes adding a third party is inefficient
In the business world, channel intermediaries help…
- source the goods or services that customers need, - place them where customers want to buy them
- have them available when customers are ready to buy.
In the business world channels help source the goods or services that customers ____, place them where customers _____ to buy them, and have them ________ when customers are ready to buy.
need, want, available
Under the classic 4 P’s framework which P are distribution channels under?
Place
Why ar channels needed?
- to get products where they’re needed so customers can buy them
- differentiation
- access to new markets
- economies of scale
- efficiency
- create barriers to competition
The right channels can provide ________ for the products distributed through those channels.
differentiation
. A previous chapter of this book discussed the importance of differentiation when it comes to positioning products. A relationship with the right distribution partner can sometimes provide this differentiation that causes customers to view a product as better, or more ideal.
Suppose that two companies have virtually identical product offerings. They have the same price and similar functionality, and neither has a brand strength advantage. What would cause a consumer to choose one brand over the other?
It’s difficult to know since there isn’t any obvious differentiation. Now, suppose that one of those brands arranges to distribute its product through a popular retail outlet, one in which the competing brand is not in. Almost immediately, a much larger number of consumers gain exposure to the brand, and sales take off. In this example, the distribution channel creates significant differentiation for the product sold through it.
A relationship with the right distribution partner can sometimes provide this ___________ that causes customers to view a product as better, or more ideal.
differntiation
very common reason for a brand to enter a channel distribution relationship is to get its products into…
new markets
Regardless of whether the new market is ________ or an industry ______, when the need is to enter a new market quickly, finding the right channel partner is often the fastest way.
geogrpahic, segment
Many products cost more to __________ than they do to __________
distribute, produce

