StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Business Marketing Channels - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
"Business Marketing Channels" paper focuses on marketing channels that play a pivotal role in the sale of products or services that companies produce. Thus companies choose to use marketing channels for reasons such as getting more marketing opportunities. …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER97.7% of users find it useful
Business Marketing Channels
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Business Marketing Channels"

Business Marketing Channels Affiliation Business Marketing Channels What do business marketing channels imply? Business marketing channels imply outlets used by companies to deliver their goods or services to consumers. The description given is just an informal explanation of business marketing channels. However informal it may be, delivery is at the root of a business marketing channel. To the consumer, all that matters is that they get the services or goods that are needed. It does not matter how or what route the said goods or services go through to reach them (Lacobucci, 2001). This route or design used by a group of organizations to deliver the services or products to the consumer is what constitutes a business marketing channel. Hence, a business marketing channel can be described as a group of interdependent businesses working together right from the product or service source to the endpoint – in this case the consumer – with the aim of delivering the services or products. From this definition, it is noted that a business marketing channel does not involve one business but a group of interdependent businesses. Interdependent means that the businesses involved rely on other members to function and that one member alone is not enough to define a business marketing channel. This interdependence is a fundamental feature of a business marketing channel, where all businesses work together to ensure that their products and services are delivered at the right time and to the right place (Rosenbloom, 2011). It is evident that a business marketing channel is a process that takes time to complete. Even when the process is completed, a connection is built up between the business and the consumer. Two questions arise: 1) Why do businesses use business marketing channels? , and 2) What roles do they perform? This paper seeks to answer these questions through explanations and descriptions that pertain to business marketing channels. Why Do Companies Use Marketing Channels? Companies usually collaborate with distributors. When a company produces a product or service, the company has to find means to deliver either to the consumer. It is for this reason that companies utilize marketing channels. Companies have to determine the most appropriate marketing channel. By using marketing channels, companies are able to obtain more marketing opportunities as the product or service is transacted along the marketing channel. On many occasions companies make use of distributors (McDonalds & Wilson, 2011). A distributor can be another company that specializes in buying from the source company in large quantities and selling to others, in this case retailers, value - added resellers, and suppliers who resell or deliver the product to the consumer. Companies use distributors as marketing channels for various reasons (McDonalds & Wilson, 2011). One reason is that it is easier for various interested parties to buy from distributors as it takes minimal time and logistics. The distributors facilitate transactions between the company and the end user. Upon selling the products or services, companies can then pay the distributors. The distributors have warehouses where unsold products are stored. These warehouses take away the burden of storage from the company (Kotler, 2011). An example of a company that uses distributors as marketing channels is Coca-Cola. This marketing channel has proved successful for Coca-Cola especially in developing countries. Distributors involved in the marketing channel know the market better than the company does. They are conversant with the competition in the market. They also have vast customer bases. These factors provide more marketing opportunities to the company indirectly. If a consumer visits a store run by a distributor, the distributor will endorse the company’s product. This endorsement functions to market the product (Kotler, 2011). Companies also use marketing channels because they add value to their products or services. Most consumers are usually very much value oriented. They tend to buy a product or service because they believe or know that it is of greater value than a similar one from a different product. It is up to a company to take advantage of this knowledge and ensure that their products or services offer the highest value. How do marketing channels add value to products or services? Marketing channels add value to products or services by utilizing intermediaries. These intermediaries comprise the interdependent companies forming the market channel. These companies are unique in that they are able to deliver or avail the products to the intended market because they have specialized in that area of the market channel. An example of such a company is a distributing company. As stated, companies making up the intermediaries are specialized; they also have the experience, capability, and contacts to deliver the products to the end user (Russell, 2010). Marketing channels also add value to the products by narrowing the gap created by possession, location, and time, which disconnect products or services from the end user. They narrow this gap through their undertaking of specific roles in the marketing channels. Such roles include promotion, as I have previously stated. Promotion involves building up and increasing messages on the products (Russell, 2010). Establishing contact with consumers is another function. They also design the product to suit the wants of the consumer. Moreover, they negotiate with the consumers on pricing of the product. This division of labor throughout the channel is not random; it is specific. It ensures that the channel member with the capability to undertake a certain role is assigned to that role hence ensuring value is added to the product or service as efficiency is upheld (Russell, 2010). Functions of Marketing Channels There are various functions of marketing channels. One of these functions is surmounting inconsistencies. The inconsistencies that marketing channels help surmount include time, range, quantity and space resulting from economics of scale in production. According to Lamb (2012), who goes on to give an example where a company produces more than 20,000 units of a certain product per day. The consumer cannot utilize that amount per day which builds up an inconsistency in quantity. The role of marketing channels in this scenario is providing a storage means from which products can be distributed in the required amounts according to the needs of the consumer. When one company produces one product, for example plates, the consumer also need a spoon to use along with a plate. Therefore, another company is required to provide the spoon to the same consumer. Marketing channels play a role here, as they provide other products from other companies to suit the consumers’ needs. Many companies also make products in vast quantities. This calls for large markets, which in some cases are not available. Marketing channels perform the role of provision. They provide these markets to companies by availing the products to customers at convenient locations (Lamb, 2012). In the definition of marketing channels, it is stated that marketing channels involve a group of companies. Each of the companies forming the marketing channel has a specific function which helps companies to specialize and divide labor across the marketing channel. Labor division and specialization reduces cost resulting from production. It also enhances efficacy as companies specialize in production of one product or undertaking a certain function. The economies of scale are met by a company in the marketing channel through its use of machinery to produce one product (Pride & Ferrell, 2004). Marketing channels also helps in the attainment of economies of scale through helping companies to take marketing directly to the end user. Various marketing channel members such as retailers are used. Retailers are better equipped to market the company’s product because they are in touch with the consumer who is the main target. Their efficiency is best at selling the product to the consumer, in which the source company is not efficient in (Pride & Ferrell, 2004). This efficiency of selling the product to the consumer translates into another function of marketing channels, which is availing contact. Availing contact requires that it is done efficiently. Efficacy in contact is availed by marketing channels through their ability to provide the consumers with products at very few locations that are known by the consumer. Such locations involve supermarkets where all products are available in one location. The few locations also reduce the transactions needed to deliver the product to the end user (McCalley, 1992). When the number of transactions is reduced, then contact efficiency is enhanced and the customer can easily access the products. An example of contact efficiency provided by marketing channels involves three companies engaged in production of distinct mobile phones. These companies would need three contacts to get to the end user. However, due to the availability of retailers who amass the mobile phones from the three companies, only one point of contact is needed, which is the retailer from which the customer can buy the product of choice (McCalley, 1992). Conclusion In conclusion marketing channels play a pivotal role in the sale of products or services that companies produce. Thus companies choose to use marketing channels for reasons such as getting more marketing opportunities and because they add value to products through intermediaries. The functions of marketing channels are not limited to those only stated in this discussion. However, those that have been described are with examples given as illustrations. Companies that have always done well in the market, along with those that are doing well now, have made use and are making utmost use of marketing channels. References Kotler, P. (2011). Marketing insights from A to Z: 80 concepts every manager needs to know. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Lacobucci, D. (2001). Kellogg on marketing. New York, USA: John Wiley & Sons. Lamb, C. W. (2012). Marketing. Natorp Boulevard, USA: Cengage Learning. McCalley, R. W. (1992). Marketing channel development and management. London, UK: Greenwood Publishing Group. McDonald, M., & Wilson, H. (2011). Marketing plans: how to prepare them, how to use them (7th ed.). West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons. Pride, W., & Ferrell, O.C. (2004). Marketing. Natorp Boulevard, USA: Cengage Learning. Rosenbloom, B. (2011). Marketing channels. Natorp Boulevard, UAS: Cengage Learning Russell, E. (2010). The fundamentals of marketing. Lausane, Switzerland: AVA Publishing. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Business Marketing Channels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words”, n.d.)
Business Marketing Channels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/business/1650424-business-marketing-channels
(Business Marketing Channels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words)
Business Marketing Channels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words. https://studentshare.org/business/1650424-business-marketing-channels.
“Business Marketing Channels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/business/1650424-business-marketing-channels.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Business Marketing Channels

Marketing communication: Effective Promotion and Sale in Face of Globalization Today

Communication in marketing cannot be ignored especially in the advent of globalization, increased competition and increased consumer awareness and the society at large.... Blythe reckons that a business that is to survive in the current business environment must factor in and apply the relevant marketing tools.... hellip; Businesses must be guided, in their marketing communication endeavors, by a set of codes of ethics as well as conventional norms confined in society in the increasingly globalized market and negative perception on marketing particularly advertising....
12 Pages (3000 words) Essay

Strategic Marketing

Name of student: Supervisor's Name Module name Subject: Retail management and marketing Answer 1: Process of internationalization Internationalization is the process which allows a business organization to be involved in globalized business operations.... Decision of selecting the most appropriate marketing channel and communication tools in the new market The company also needs to take decision whether it should adopt the standard marketing mix or go for modified marketing mix as per the demand of the country....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Managing Conflicts in Channel Management

nbsp; The insurance industry has begun using hybrid marketing channels.... The objectives of marketing channels can be understood better by analysing their four functions - facilitating the exchange process, alleviating discrepancies, standardizing transactions and providing customer service.... Another major objective of marketing channels is standardizing transactions.... A marketing channel's most important aim is to facilitate a smooth exchange process between a firm and an individual....
5 Pages (1250 words) Coursework

Marketing Behaviour and Executive Action

he current business scenario particularly in the arena of export intermediation has found its way to the cyber world bringing a radical shift in the current international business channels (Quelch and Klein, 1996).... he aim would be to provide a number of relevant insights for export managers seeking to explore the economies of the cyber space for their export marketing activities.... At times the so called digitalization of these export marketing tasks means that new forms of marketing activity will be brought about in the marketing channel along with new forms of activity specialization amongst the business actors....
19 Pages (4750 words) Book Report/Review

The Success of Information Media

The paper 'The Success of Information Media' presents media that depends effectively on the number of users who are regularly coming in contact with that particular medium.... Newspapers, radio, television, and the internet are the types of media that seek active continuous support.... hellip; The advent of globalization and the extremely increased pace of daily activities in life in the last decade has made people go for more entertainment-based life to unwind and the emergence of internet and multimedia facilities has challenged the common man's media sources like newspapers, radio, and television....
7 Pages (1750 words) Case Study

International Marketing and communications

The following report has given an in-depth analysis of the telecommunication sector in Iran and gives marketing plan that will be used by Verizon Wireless Company to venture into the market.... The report suggests a model of a marketing plan that can be adopted by Verizon Wireless to The report is conclusive although the company should conduct future research in the market for it to be successful in the market.... The report gives an analysis of the entry mode, marketing strategies and other factors affecting the introduction of Verizon wireless mobile phones in the Iranian market....
14 Pages (3500 words) Essay

Managing Business Marketing Channels & E-Commerce

Managing Business Marketing Channels & E-Commerce al Affiliation) The distribution channel is the link between the manufacturer and the customer and involves the necessary tasks to get the product to the customer and the market.... The two types of channels are the direct where the manufacturer performs all the marketing functions and the indirect channel where the intermediaries are involved to handle the products (Dent, 2011).... ?Distribution channels understanding and managing channels to market(2nd ed....
1 Pages (250 words) Assignment

New Progressive Channels

This essay "New Progressive channels" presents the Progressive Corporation that began in 1937 as a casualty insurance company.... Before the introduction of the toll-free telephone service, it sold its auto insurance through three main channels.... The three channels were independent agents, direct response, and captive agents.... Using the multiple distribution channels saw tremendous growth and success particularly because of the toll-free call service....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us