Exam 15: Distributing Products

A sales agent is an agent who represents the interests of the consumer in a particular territory when negotiating terms of purchases made directly from a producer.

The Newsville City Press is a daily newspaper serving a city with a population of just over 200,000. The publishers have placed vending machines for their paper throughout Newsville and its suburbs. They also sell their papers at most of the supermarkets, convenience stores, bookstores, and drug stores in the area. The Newsville City Press uses an intensive distribution strategy.

Compared to railroads and trucks, the biggest advantage offered by air transport is that it is:

Supply chain management manages the movement of relevant information as well as the movement of parts and finished goods through all organizations involved in the supply chain.

Items such as snow skis, lawnmowers, and other highly seasonal items are often held in ___________ warehouses during the months they are not in demand.

__________ brings raw materials, packaging, other goods and services, and information from suppliers to producers.

Mini-Case "We've got a number of important issues to discuss today," began Dee Stribyute as she opened the weekly marketing manager's meeting for Lite Bite Foods. Lite Bite is a producer of low fat, low calorie snack foods. The other managers attending the meeting were her two top assistants, Mark Etter and Rhea Taylor. "First, sales were hurt last year when we had to recall our almond chocolate bars because of concerns about contaminated ingredients. We've got our work cut out for us to recover from that setback. Many stores quit carrying our products, and even the ones that continued to do so put less emphasis on displaying and promoting them. We've got to get our products into as many stores as possible. Consumers shouldn't have to go all over town trying to find our snacks. We also need to make sure that our products are displayed and promoted in a way that attracts attention." Dee looked at her assistants, and saw that they seemed ready to make some proposals. However, she decided to get another important issue out on the table before stopping to discuss solutions, so she continued with her comments. "The other big concern is the cost of moving our goods. Distribution costs are a major part of the overall cost of selling our goods. What can we do to make the flow of products from our kitchens to our ultimate consumers more efficient?" Having laid out her concerns, Dee sat down at the head of the table, saying to her assistants, "O.K. guys, I'm ready for suggestions." -Currently, Lite Bite uses a lot of intermediaries to help distribute its products. Collectively, the organizations that participate in getting finished goods from Lite Bite to the ultimate consumers of its products are all part of the:

Retail organizations employ more than 5 million people in the U.S.

Sportstors, Inc., operates a chain of very large stores that offer an incredible selection of sporting goods at very competitive prices. When Sportstors opens its first store in a geographic area, smaller sporting goods stores almost always experience a noticeable drop in sales. Sportstors stores can be classified as:

There are three major types of warehouses: centralized, dispersed, and mode-specific.

What is utility? What are the major types of utility? Give an example of how marketing intermediaries can provide each type of utility.

Jen Carter is trying to find ways to improve her firm's movement of materials and goods from its warehouse to the factory floor. Jen is looking into ways of making her firm's __________ more efficient.

Water transportation is the least expensive way to send goods overseas.

Barbeau Heating and Cooling offers customers who buy air conditioners and furnaces free delivery and low installation charges. The company also offers a free follow-up inspection of the new equipment one month after it is installed. These services are ways that Barbeau provides its customers with __________ utility.

Although HelpUSell brings together buyers and sellers and helps negotiate exchanges, it does not actually take title to any of the goods being traded. HelpUSell would be classified as an agent or broker.

In the terminology of multilevel marketing, which of the following statements about the relationship between upliners and downliners is most accurate? In multilevel marketing,

The main difference between selective distribution and exclusive distribution is the number and type of market segments the firm chooses. In a selective strategy, a variety of profitable niche markets are selected, while in an exclusive strategy one specific market segment is targeted, and all others are excluded.

Electronic retailing is selling goods and services over the Internet to the final consumer.

An important reason for the popularity of direct marketing is that many people enjoy developing a personal relationship with a salesperson that comes directly to their home or place or work.

Because so many people work outside the home and aren't at home during the day, companies that use direct selling are sponsoring parties at workplaces to sell their products.