Developing Effective Distribution Channels for Effective Marketing

You’ve developed a great product or service. You’re sure customers will want to buy it. But how will you connect that product or service to those customers?

The answer to that critical question is your service or product distribution strategy, which should be an integral part of your business plan. While the details vary widely among businesses and industries, there are two fundamental ways to deliver products and services:

Distribution and marketing go well hand in hand. It is worth mentioning that companies who sell have developed effective distribution channels.

Distribution involves series of activities and personnel required to move a product from the producer/manufacturer to the final consumer. No matter how good a product is if people cannot easily access the product then it will be difficult for the product to actually scale.

The era of e-commerce has improved product visibility but that has not taken away the physical stores and the role the physical store plan. Even Amazon is opening physical stores to complement its online store.

If your product requires frequent purchases you will have to work out distribution strategies that are suitable for your kind of product or service. For products like drugs, toiletries, food and services that require frequent purchases you will need a distribution framework that will ensure your products are easily accessible.

Why should a Business Bother about Distribution Strategies?

1. Your distribution strategies will determine the success of your marketing campaigns and the overall success of your business. If customers have to struggle to get your products very soon they will go for an alternative. Coca-cola products can be found in most communities in Nigeria even communities without government presence and the same can be said of the popular Noodle brand Indomie.

2. Your distribution channels can help you gather data and improve the ease of decision making in business. Your distribution channels provide the opportunity to easily gather information from consumers which can help improve product quality and also understand the receptability of your product in the market.

3. Your distribution strategies will help understand the market and this can assist you to manage your production. As a manufacturer you can easily ascertain when to source for materials and when to produce and the quantity to produce based on the frequency of purchase.

Distribution Strategies

Your distribution strategies will depend on the kind of products that you have. Luxury products cannot have the same distribution strategies as an everyday product. Your distribution strategies will also depend on the frequency of purchase of your products. A product that requires frequent purchase should be easily accessible in a local store.

Single channel distribution strategy or direct marketing: in this kind of strategy the manufacturer has a direct link to the final consumer. The advantage of this strategy is the direct communication channel that exists between the manufacturer and the consumer.

This strategy has obvious disadvantages. It is quite difficult to be able to reach a large customer base and it is difficult for consumers to easily access products and the extra costs of sending products to the consumer.

The downside is that it takes a lot of time and focus away from your main preoccupation: the production of high-quality goods. Direct selling is a good match for a marketing plan that has identified, researched and segmented the final customers.

Wholesale distribution strategy: in this kind of strategy, the distribution channel consists of the manufacturer, the distributor, wholesaler and the retailer. This has obvious advantages as it affords the manufacturer the opportunity to focus on the business of manufacturing.

The manufacturer may not have the capacity to attend to the wide and diverse customers who require the products or services. The established structures of the distribution channel help to ensure the products are available at the points where customers need them.

Online distribution strategy: E-commerce has opened a new distribution channel that provides manufacturers an opportunity to attend to a wide and varied audience. If you have a product that does not require reoccurring purchase e-commerce is a great channel to use for distribution of your products. But if you have a product that requires frequent purchase you will have to think beyond the online platform and also establish a physical distribution strategy.

Even if you have developed an app you will have to fashion out a strategy that gets your products in the hands of those who need it. Lack of proper distribution strategies is prerequisite for a failed product.