Marketing Channel Strategy
tải về 5.39 Mb. Chế độ xem pdf
|
| promotion
functions take many forms: personal sell- ing by an employee or outside sales force (e.g., brokers and registered investment advisers for mutual funds), media advertising, sales promotions (trade or retail), pub- licity, and other public relations activities. Promotional activities seek to increase awareness of the product being sold, educate potential buyers about products’ fea- tures and benefits, and persuade potential buyers to purchase. A third-party reverse logistics specialist helps manufacturers achieve this promotional goal when it refur- bishes returned products and sells them through new channels (e.g., eBay); in so doing, it targets new buyer segments and differentiates refurbished units from new products sold through standard channels. Promotional efforts also might seek to enhance overall brand equity, to increase sales in the future. Of course, any channel member can be involved in promotion, not just the retailer or manufacturer. Even as a distributor, CDW maintains an expensive sales force, which ultimately helps it reduce the total costs of promotion for its computer equipment manufacturers. The negotiation function is present in the channel if the terms of sale or the persistence of certain relationships are open to discussion. The costs of negotiation are measured mainly on the basis of the time the negotiators need to conduct the negotiations and, if necessary, the cost of legal counsel. In a consortium with small businesses to serve the government market (Sidebar 2.1), CDW uses multiple mem- bers’ capabilities to enhance the channel’s joint negotiation power over the buyer: its negotiation abilities allow CDW to obtain products at low prices, so smaller businesses gain a negotiation edge in landing government contracts. Financing costs are inherent to any sale that moves from one level of the chan- nel to another. Typical financing terms for a business-to-business purchase require payment within 30 days and may offer a discount for early payment. With a 2 percent discount offered for payment within 10 days, for example, the terms of sale would be presented as “2–10 net 30.” Regardless of the specifics, the payment terms establish the seller’s willingness to finance the buyer’s purchase for a period of time (here, 30 days), after the product has been delivered. In so doing, the seller accepts the financial cost of the forgone income that it could have achieved by CHANNEL BASICS 49 putting that money to use in an alternative investment activity. Financing costs also may be borne by a manufacturer or intermediary, or even by an outside specialist, such as a bank or credit card company. As a distributor, CDW buys products from computer manufacturers and finances that inventory until customers buy and pay for them. It is particularly efficient in this function, according to its strong inven- tory turn rate and the minimal days indicated in its receivables. At the other end of the financing efficiency spectrum is a manufacturer with high product return rates that fails to manage them well. Even an average company finances its returned products for 30–70 days before reinserting them into the market. There are many sources of risk . For example, long-term contracts between a dis- tributor and end-user may specify price guarantees that lock in the distributor to a certain price. If the market price for that product rises while the contract is in force, the distributor loses revenue, because it must continue to sell at the pre- viously determined, lower price. Southwest Airlines has been able to successfully reduce its fuel charges for years by locking in a specific price and using the savings to maintain its position as a low-cost carrier. 7 Price guarantees also may be offered to intermediaries who hold inventory, just in case the product’s market price falls before the inventory is sold. This practice moves the risk from the intermediary to the manufacturer. Other risk-related costs include warranties, insurance, and after-sales service activities that attempt to mitigate concerns about unforeseeable future events (e.g., parts failures, accidents). The manufacturer or reseller usually bears these risk costs, though in some cases, a specific channel intermediary serves explicitly as a risk manager. When a CDW manager says, “We’re kind of chief tech- nical officer for many smaller firms,” he is recognizing CDW’s greater expertise with computer products and systems (see Sidebar 2.1). This expertise offers reduced risk to small-business customers, which know they can rely on CDW rather than try to identify the best systems on their own, with their limited knowledge. tải về 5.39 Mb. Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn:
|