Channels of marketing

 

       Individual consumers and corporate/organizational buyers are aware that thousands of goods and services are available through a very large number of diverse channel outlets. What they may not be well aware of is the fact that the channel structure, or the set of institutions, agencies, and establishments through which the product must move to get to them, can be amazingly complex.

       Usually, combinations of institutions specializing in manufacturing, wholesaling, retailing, and many other areas join forces in marketing channel arrangements to make possible the delivery of goods to industrial users or customers and to final consumers. The same is true for the marketing of services. For example, in the case of health care delivery, hospitals, ambulance services, physicians, laboratories, insurance companies, and drugstores combine efforts in an organized channel arrangement to ensure the delivery of a critical service. All these institutions depend on each other to cater effectively to consumer demands.

       Therefore, marketing channels can be viewed as sets of interdependent organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption. From the outset, it should be recognized that not only do marketing channels satisfy demand by supplying goods and services at the right place, quantity, quality, and price, but they also stimulate demand through the promotional activities of the units (e.g., retailers, manufacturers' representatives, sales offices, and wholesalers) comprising them. Therefore, the channel should be viewed as an orchestrated network that creates value for the user or consumer through the generation of form, possession, time, and place utilities.

       A major focus of marketing channel management is on delivery. It is only through distribution that public and private goods can be made available for consumption. Producers of such goods (including manufacturers of industrial and consumer goods, legislators framing laws, educational administrators conceiving new means for achieving quality education, and insurance companies developing unique health insurance coverage) are individually capable of generating only form or structural utility for their «products». They can organize their production capabilities in such a way that the products they have developed can, in fact, be seen, analyzed, debated, and, by a select few perhaps, digested. But the actual large-scale delivery of the products to the consuming public demands different types of efforts which create time, place, and possession utilities. In other words, consumers cannot obtain a finished product unless the product is transported to where they can gain access to it, stored until they are ready for it, and digested, exchanged for money or other goods or services so that they can gain possession of it. In fact, the four types of utility (form, time, place, and possession) are inseparable: there can be no «complete» product without incorporating all four into any given object, idea, or service.

VOCABULARY

 

diverse — разнообразный               

insurance companies — страховые компании

to be aware of — остерегаться чего-либо

to ensure — обеспечивать

channel structure — структура канала как...

can be viewed as — могут быть рассмотрены,

establishment — установление, учреждение

  interdependent – взаимозависимый

to join — (при)соединять(ся)          

orchestrated network — слаженная сеть

health care delivery – оказание медицинских услуг

legislators - законодатели

physician - терапевт                        

to develop — развивать

drugstores – аптеки

to digest — переваривать

 

General understanding:

1. What are individual consumers and corporate buyers aware of?

2. What combinations of institutions specializing in manufacturing, wholesaling, retailing usually do to
maximize their profits?

3. What is an example of health care delivery used for?

4. What is the major focus of marketing channel management concentrated on?

5. What the verb «to digest» is used for in the text?

 

1. Which of the following is false:

1. Channel structure could be very complex.

2. Many partners coordinate their efforts to make possible the delivery of goods.

3. Channels of marketing are of the most importance and effectiveness in health care delivery.

4. Marketing channels stimulate demand through the promotional activities of the units.

5. Public and private goods could be available for consumption only through distribution.

6. According to the author, legislators also use the channels of marketing to distribute their products —laws.

7. The only way to use marketing channels is to digest them.

 

1. Define the following in English:

a) channels of marketing

b) channel structure

c) channel outlets

d) channel arrangement

e) marketing channel management

 

2 Find equivalent in Russian for:

 

a) consumer demand

b) ambulance services

c) interdependent organizations

d) network

e) public and private goods

f) four types of utility

 

3. Use the following to write sentences on channels of marketing in the sphere which is of interest and importance to you:

 

a) can be viewed as....

b) to be well aware of...

c) to make smth. possible

d) it should be recognized as...

e) a major focus of... is on...

 

Summarize the text in 8-10 sentences. Use the word patterns of the text. Dwell on the strong and weak points of the theory.

Questions for discussion:

1. Does channel structure for individual consumers differ from that of organization? In what way?

2. Do you agree that laws of marketing could be applied to the sphere of politics? Why and why not? Give an example.

3. Do you agree that theory of marketing could be used in the field of medicine? Does it come into contradiction with ethics or morals?