Sales channels to reach your customers
Selling through retailers, wholesalers and other distributors
Selling through an intermediary may be a more cost-effective way of reaching your end-customers than selling to them directly.
If you are targeting business customers who prefer to deal with large suppliers, selling directly to them may not be a realistic option. Instead, you might aim to supply wholesalers who have existing relationships with those businesses.
If individual consumers buy low value quantities of your products, the best option might be to target retailers that sell similar products. Or you might choose to focus your efforts on a relatively small number of wholesalers who can in turn supply your products to many retailers.
Other distribution channels may also reach your end-customers. For example, technology suppliers often sell to resellers who can configure and install the technology to suit end-users’ particular needs.
Managing your distributors
You need distributors who will value your product. If they sell competing products, what will make them push yours?
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Think about how you set your prices. Distributors will be more enthusiastic if they can make a large profit – but setting too low a price will eat into your own margins.
Effective advertising and promotions can be vital. As well as marketing to the distributor, you can promote your products directly to end-customers. Distributors will be keener to stock and sell products that their customers are asking for.
The key terms of the supply relationship should be covered in a written contract. Key issues might include:
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how much stock the distributor will hold
what the distributor will do to promote your products
how quickly you can resupply and minimum order levels
whether the distributor has exclusive rights to your product (for example, in a particular territory)
what happens if either you or the distributor want to end the relationship
Business ideas, Marketing and sales , promotions and advertising ideas , articles
Reebok’s Marketing Whiz – Muktesh Pant – quits to start yoga biz
Micky Pant recently left Reebok to set up a business in the field of yoga instruction and accessories. Prior to that, Micky was the Chief Marketing Officer of the Reebok brand, the flagship division of Reebok International Ltd. Promoted to this position in November 2001, Pant oversaw the marketing of the Reebok brand globally. In the past year, he has overseen several successful marketing campaigns, including “Terry Tate, office linebacker”, and the creation of “Rbk”, a new urban collection of footwear.Pant joined Reebok in 1994 as Managing Director for Reebok India. In 1996, he was named Regional Director for new markets, and in 1999 was promoted to Vice President of Global Marketing, a position based at Reeboks corporate headquarters. He relocated to the United States and was promoted to Chief Marketing Officer. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the American College of Sports Medicine.Prior to joining Reebok, Pant served in various marketing positions for PepsiCo and Unilever.Pant earned his masters degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, where he also was the recipient of a national scholarship.”Athletic shoe and clothing maker Reebok International Ltd. said on Monday that its chief marketing officer Muktesh ‘Micky’ Pant had resigned in order to start a yoga-related business in India and the United States .The company said Pant had decided ‘to pursue his life-long dream of establishing a business that connects him to his roots in India , a country where wellness of the mind, body and spirit is held in high regard and serves as the very essence of the Indian culture.’Pant told Reuters that he would return to India to start his new venture, which would be built around yoga. ‘Because of the growth of e-mail and voicemail and instant communications, there’s a lot of growth in stress,’ Pant said, ‘Deadlines have shortened. People are moving faster in a direction that they don’t pause to think about.’Professionalism in Yoga is not gona take long.
