MDC ½ questions and answers 100% correct

MDC ½ questions and answers 100% correct Marketing channel system- compromised of inter- and independent organizations that work to go to market with a product or service, so that it is available for use or consumption. Go-to-market strategy- •the blueprint used to deliver the firm's offerings to end-users in a manner that conforms to their preferred mode and method of buying. •Must know consumers buying preferences •Information/education before making purchasing decisions •Services and after support they seek •Expectations •Willingness to pay for extras •Delivery preferences •Financing needs •Mode of ordering they like best THERE ARE 3 MAIN STEPS TO DEVELOPING GO-TO-MARKET STRATEGY 1. Firm must perform analysis of industry channel practices to isolate critical successful factors 2. Channel managers should identify areas of improvement in their practices 3. The firm can develop policies and procedures to incentivize and alter channel partners' behaviors to motivate their efficient execution of channel tasks. A marketing channel is defined as: "the set of interdependent but in many cases independent organizations involved in the process of taking a product or services to market and making it available for use or consumption." Distributors, wholesalers, brokers, franchisees, and retailers all comprise a marketing channel system. The end goal of any channel system is to make products and services available and easy for users to buy, in accordance with their preferences. If firms fail to have a successful channel system, attractiveness to buyers will be limited, with negative effects on firms sales. THE CHANGING CHANNEL LANDSCAPE •Technology advances significantly affect channel landscapes, manufacturers and retailers face new issues trying to keep up. • •E-commerce, smartphones, and mobile technology has changed how consumers buy, and retailers like sears, macy's, andjcpenneyhave suffered. •There are several reasons managers are vexed by altered channel landscapes •Building or modifying a channel system involved costly, hard-to-reverse investments •Modifying channels means confronting entrenched interests and the way things have always been done. •To devote the considerable financial investments required and how to adjust the roles and compensation of different channel members. •3Key entities involved in every marketing channel •Manufacturers •Intermediaries(wholesale, retail, specialized) •End-users(business customers or customers). 1. THE MANUFACTURER •The producer or originator of the product or service being sold •They can produce brand-name products. •Ex: coca-cola, mercedes-benz, sony •Or they can create private-label products •Manufacturers make products but do not invest in a branded name for them. •Ex: multibarfoods inc.Is a private label and distributes their products to dr. Atkins' nutritionals and quakeroats co. •Is typically the "channel captain." •Takes most interest in the making of the channel for the product or service. • 2. WHOLESALERS •Wholesalers sell to other channel intermediaries, such as retailers or to business end-users, not to individual consumer end-users. •They earn profits by buying at wholesale price and selling at a marked-up price to downstream customers, and pocket the difference. •Merchant wholesalers take title to and physical possession of: •Inventory •Store inventory •Promote products in their line •Arrange for financing, ordering, payment by customers 3. RETAIL INTERMEDIARIES •Come in many forms: •Department stores •Mass merchandisers •Hypermarkets •Specialty stores •Category killers •Convenience stores •Franchises •Buying clubs •Warehouse clubs •Direct retailers, etc. •Can be b2c or b2b 4. SPECIALIZED INTERMEDIARIES •Enter the channel to perform a specific function •They are not typically heavily involved in the core business represented by the products being sold. ONLINE CHANNELS •Known as e-commerce, e-tailing, online retailing, and internet channels. •Offer a form of direct retailing, such that the consumer uses an internet-enabled device to order products or services through the internet and have them delivered. •Gives consumers the ability to shop where they want, when they want. In 2016, online sales accounted for 8.1% of all retail sales, and is expected to grow at double-digit rates in the COMING years Multi-Channel •Entails leveraging multiple channels that operate relatively independently •Operate as clearly separate entities •Consumers engage in cross-channel shopping by switching among online, mobile, and physical platforms during a transaction. Omni-Channel •Harmoniously integrates functions that allow customers to shop- research, purchase, communicate, engage with, and consume the brand- across online, mobile, social and offline physical channels. •Channel arrangements help customers move seamlessly and however they choose, across multiple channels during a transaction. •Key difference: "consumer engagement" is central to omni-channel approaches; they explicitly seek customer experience through efforts that rely on social media, email, web links, mobile platforms, store visits, promotional efforts, etc.