Place (i.e. distribution)

Placement of the product is crucial. There are often many channels, which a product can take in going from your shop to the customer. Defining a channel strategy is not simply an arbitrary matter. Bear in mind that all middlemen along the way are in partnership with you to sell something to the end-user. Therefore, your product and its other 3 Ps must be such that various resellers in your channel have their needs (e.g. margin objectives, volumes) met.

There is also the question of control. When AES Data launched the world’s first word processor in the early 1970s, it signed up the Lanier company in the USA to handle U.S. sales. However, Lanier was selling the AES product under its own label, and when Lanier decided to switch to another supplier of word processors (as competition emerged), AES had little control over its U.S. customers. To gain a foothold in the U.S. market, it had to start from the beginning in a market which it created! Even if Lanier sold the AES products under the AES name, the channel would still be owned by Lanier in that Lanier had its own loyal customer base along with sales and service offices to support this customer base.

A good practical way to determine appropriate channels for your product would be to start at the point of final purchase. Who is the final consumer or user of your product? Where does that person look when buying your type of product? Once the various channels have been identified, it is easier to determine which ones make the most sense or which ones offer the path of least resistance.

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