The Effects of the Internet on Channel Strategy
The Effects of the Internet on Channel Strategy
Ryan Andrew
MM 574
June 11, 2009
Consumers walk into a grocery store on any given day, pick up the food or beverages they need, pay and head home. Few people stop to think or contemplate how the Tombstone pizza they purchased for dinner ended up in the frozen food section of the local grocer. They merely place the pizza in the oven and in 15 minutes dinner is served. The process of delivering the Tombstone pizza to the consumer, through the grocer, from Kraft Foods is the distribution channel strategy.
The Tombstone example could include any number of items or companies. Goods or products have to start someplace and in this case, Kraft Foods is the producer. Customers in the grocer or retail establishment are the consumers. The middleman in this scenario is the wholesaler, or in other words, the grocery store or retail store. The middleman helps the market flow and would be considered the marketing channel in any business transaction where goods or products are exchanged.
Whereas marketing “is a social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others,” the marketing channel is a the actual exchange relationships within marketing. Today, marketing channels are not so much a distribution process as a relationship orientation. (Pelton, Strutton, & Lumpkin, 2007)
According to our text, marketing channels are created because of a need for the marketplace to be better serviced. Since marketing is constantly changing, so are the marketing channels that are used. Because of this constant change, new marketing channels are constantly being conceived to be able to move the market forward. But, for a marketing channel to be successful, they must operate as a team connecting the producer and the consumer, consistently being able to move resources and products from the point of origin to the point of consumption. (Pelton,
Ryan Andrew
MM 574
June 11, 2009
Consumers walk into a grocery store on any given day, pick up the food or beverages they need, pay and head home. Few people stop to think or contemplate how the Tombstone pizza they purchased for dinner ended up in the frozen food section of the local grocer. They merely place the pizza in the oven and in 15 minutes dinner is served. The process of delivering the Tombstone pizza to the consumer, through the grocer, from Kraft Foods is the distribution channel strategy.
The Tombstone example could include any number of items or companies. Goods or products have to start someplace and in this case, Kraft Foods is the producer. Customers in the grocer or retail establishment are the consumers. The middleman in this scenario is the wholesaler, or in other words, the grocery store or retail store. The middleman helps the market flow and would be considered the marketing channel in any business transaction where goods or products are exchanged.
Whereas marketing “is a social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others,” the marketing channel is a the actual exchange relationships within marketing. Today, marketing channels are not so much a distribution process as a relationship orientation. (Pelton, Strutton, & Lumpkin, 2007)
According to our text, marketing channels are created because of a need for the marketplace to be better serviced. Since marketing is constantly changing, so are the marketing channels that are used. Because of this constant change, new marketing channels are constantly being conceived to be able to move the market forward. But, for a marketing channel to be successful, they must operate as a team connecting the producer and the consumer, consistently being able to move resources and products from the point of origin to the point of consumption. (Pelton,
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