Distribution and Branding
Nike can distribute directly to the consumer through the internet.
1. Is the Internet a distribution channel?
Internet is a distribution channel. It’s a substitute for the other forms of communication, has changed buyer-seller relationships, changed the shopping experience, and increased the power of consumers.
2. What are the functions of channel intermediaries?
The functions of the channel intermediaries are to be have Efficiency and Effectiveness.
- Efficiency: distribution costs are reduced only if if the retailers can perform the required functions more efficiently than the manufacturer could in the direct channel
- Effectiveness: the ability of the channel to perform functions that create value for the customers.
3. What is disintermediation and what are its implications for channel intermediaries and customers?
- A strategy that involves the elimination of the channel intermediary.
- The internet creates disintermediation, but the results of this is positive since it creates value for customers.
4. What are the distribution levers and how do they affect relationships between intermediaries and buyers and sellers?
Intermediary Type:
- Direct, Traditional Retailers, Virtual Shopping Malls, and Internet Exchange
Number of Intermediaries:
- Exclusive Distribution, Intensive Distribution, and Selective Distribution
Number of Channels:
- Single mode vs Mixed-Mode
Degree of Channel Integration
Intermediary functions and responsibilities
Branding:
- Brand is a “name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of the competition.
- Brand is an outcome of the levers… pricing, product, distribution, community, communication, etc…
- Branding is fundamentally different from marketing activities.