Marketing Channel Strategy
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, or the number of channel partners competing for customers, must be determined. A channel might include many retail outlets (intensive distribution), just a few (selective distribution), or only one (exclusive distribution) for a given market area; determining which option to choose depends on both efficiency and implementation factors. More intensive dis- tribution makes the product more readily available to all target end-users, but it also can create conflict among the retailers that compete to sell it. Imagine a channel manager seeking to sell a line of fine watches in retail stores. Which types and exact identities of channel partners are optimal: upscale outlets, such as Tiffany’s, or family-owned local jewelers? This choice has implications for both channel efficiency and brand image. If the company also seeks to distribute its products in foreign markets, it needs to choose a distributor that can sell overseas, leveraging its good relationships with local channel partners in the target market. Therefore, this choice significantly affects the potential success of the firm’s for- eign market entry. Finally, the channel type decision refers to multiple levels of the channel structure. For example, an ethnic food manufacturer could sell its gro- cery products through small independent retailers with urban locations or with large chains that operate discount warehouse stores or by using various online- only outlets. Moving up the channel, additional decisions pertain to whether to use independent distributors, sales representative companies (called “reps” or “rep firms”), trucking companies, financing companies, export management companies, or any of a host of other possible independent distribution channel members that could be incorporated into the channel design. Channel decisions derived from make-or-buy analyses—which indicate whether to vertically integrate or outsource—represent another critical strategic choice, because a firm’s decision to own some or all of its marketing channel has an endur- ing influence on its ability to distribute and produce. The manufacturer becomes identified with its marketing channels, which influence its end-users and deter- mine their perceptions of its image. The manufacturer also gains some market and competitive intelligence from these channels: what a manufacturer knows (or can learn) about its markets is heavily dependent on how it goes to market. Among CHANNEL BASICS 45 downstream channel members, decisions to integrate backward would put them in conflict with other suppliers and eat up resources, which may jeopardize their ability to offer unbiased advice to their customers, yet for many, moving up the value chain seems irresistible (why let the producer take all the margins when the downstream channel member understands demand better?). Such possibilities for unintended consequences highlight the need for a good understanding of the optimal channel structure and strategy to reach each targeted segment. This insight gives channel managers the freedom to establish the best pos- sible channel design—as long as no other channel currently exists in the market for this segment. If a preexisting channel already is in place, though, channel managers need to undertake a gap analysis to identify the differences between an optimal and the actual current channel. For example, service output might be under- or oversup- plied. Undersupply usually is obvious: the target segment expresses dissatisfaction with the insufficient level of service they receive. But the problem is more subtle in the case of oversupply, because target end-users get all the services they desire—and then some. Because that service is costly to supply, though, oversupply may lead to higher prices than target end-users ultimately will be willing to pay. A U D I T I N G M A R K E T I N G C H A N N E L S As the previous section indicated, designing an optimal channel structure and strategy demands various analyses. A basic precept of marketing is that sellers must seek to identify and meet the needs of their end-users in the marketplace. For a marketing channel strategy, this precept means that marketers should be cognizant of how consumers prefer to buy and the type of services they want, so that the resulting marketing channel system produces the service outputs demanded by these targeted end-user segments. Thus, a key step in the process, after identifying targeted segments of end-users, is to audit existing marketing channels. Such audits evaluate each available channel member’s capability to provide service outputs efficiently (bulk-breaking, quick delivery, spatial convenience, assortment, variety, information sharing). This evaluation must include both the level and the cost of the service outputs provided by each channel member, because end-users are sensitive to the overall utility provided by the channel (i.e., benefits at a given price). Manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers all participate in marketing channels to create the service outputs demanded by their target end-users. Just as the machinery in a production plant produces physical prod- ucts, the members of a marketing channel are engaged in tải về 5.39 Mb. Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn:
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