Distribution in organisation

Distribution Channel:

A set of interdependent organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by the consumer or business users.

Distribution Channel Functions:

Information: Gathering and distributing marketing research and intelligence information about actors and forces in the marketing environment needed for planning and aiding exchange.

Promotion: Developing and spreading persuasive communications about an offer.

Contact: Finding and communicating with prospective buyers.

Matching: Shaping and fitting the offer to the buyer’s needs, including activities such as manufacturing, grading, assembling and packaging.

Negotiation: Reaching an agreement on price and other terms of the offer so that ownership or possession can be transferred.

Others help to fulfill the completed transactions:

Physical distribution: Transporting and storing goods.

Financing: Acquiring and using funds to cover the costs of the channel work.

Risk taking: Assuming the risks of carrying out the channel work.

[ Channel level: A layer of intermediaries that performs some work in bringing the product  and its ownership closer to the final buyer.]

Direct marketing channel: A marketing channel that has no intermediary levels.

Indirect marketing channel: Channel containing one or more intermediary levels.

Intensive distribution: Stocking the product in as many outlets as possible.

Exclusive distribution: Giving a limited number of dealers the exclusive right to distribute the company’s products in their territories.

Selective distribution: The use of more than one, but fewer than all, of the intermediaries who are willing to carry the company’s products.

Physical Distribution (or marketing logistics): The tasks involved in planning, implementing and controlling the physical flow of materials, final goods, and related information from points of origin to points of consumption to meet customer requirements at a profit.

Distribution Center: A large, highly automated warehouse designed to receive goods from various plants and suppliers, take orders, fill them efficiently and deliver goods to customers as quickly as possible.