- published: 16 Sep 2015
- views: 1090
Product distribution (or place) is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. Distribution is the process of of making a product or service available for use or consumption by a consumer or business user, using direct means, or using indirect means with intermediaries.
The other three parts of the marketing mix are product, pricing, and promotion.
Distribution of products takes place by means of channels. Channels are sets of independent organisations (called intermediaries) involved in making the product available for consumption . Merchants are intermediaries that buy and resell products. Agents and brokers are intermediaries that act on behalf of the producer but do not take title to the products.
A firm can design any number of channels. Channels are classified by the number of intermediaries between producer and consumer . A level zero channel has no intermediaries. This is typical of direct marketing. A level one channel has a single intermediary. This flow is typically from manufacturer to retailer to consumer.
Distribution may refer to:
A business (also known as enterprise or firm) is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit or state-owned. A business owned by multiple individuals may be referred to as a company, although that term also has a more precise meaning.
The etymology of "business" relates to the state of being busy either as an individual or society as a whole, doing commercially viable and profitable work. The term "business" has at least three usages, depending on the scope — the singular usage to mean a particular organization; the generalized usage to refer to a particular market sector, "the music business" and compound forms such as agribusiness; and the broadest meaning, which encompasses all activity by the community of suppliers of goods and services. However, the exact definition of business, like much else in the philosophy of business, is a matter of debate and complexity of meanings.