Flower Marketing Channels - Case Study Example

Running Head: Flower Marketing Channels: A Case Study of Clark’s Flower Shops. Department The role of the traditional wholesaler in the marketing channels is influenced by a number of factors. Firstly a number of retailers prefer to personally make selections of flowers that they would then go and resell directly to the end consumers. If this is difficult for some reasons they should have a lot of confidence in the ability by the wholesaler to make the selections on their behalf. This makes the traditional wholesaler a very important player in the distribution channels since retailers would value having a trustworthy and reliable wholesaler nearby.

Also despite the fact that most small retailers like Clark’s Flower Shops don’t stock large amounts of some types of flowers, consumers will many a times want to select from wide varieties. This means retailers require to have a speedy reliable to wide flower inventories in order to run business that are viable in terms of meeting customer demands and ultimately profitability. The importance of the traditional wholesaler comes into play again to ensure a constant flow of products in large varieties to the retailers.

The wholesaler plays an important role of repackaging and providing the required assortments and sizes for the retailers. The twenty first century has seen significant channels occur in terms of factors underlying the distribution and marketing channels in floricultural products. An important force behind the changes comes in form of evolution in the methods of transportation and communication. both the retailer and consumer in the 21st century is now able to directly source the product flower growers via the mobile phone or using a broker on the internet, thanks to technology.

There is also the option of using other intermediary resellers other than the traditional wholesalers. Consumers of today have the liberty of contacting florists the world over through direct internet communication and make orders on the particular florists’ Web site. They also are able to access dot-com wire services, transmission clearinghouses and even growers to order for local, national or international delivery of fresh flowers. Furthermore, growth in mass-market retailing as well as promotion of daily use of flowers allows the consumer to get the product through cash and carry merchandising.

The local supermarket, the discount store and even vendors on the street make the product available for the consumer directly. In the coming future I think the traditional wholesaler will be disintermediated completely. This is because more and more people are going online to search for products that they need and as this continues traditional distribution and marketing channels will pave way for technology driven channels. The retailer will be able to go to the internet and log into the website belonging to a grower and make orders for flower varieties and quantities of choice which are then delivered.

consumers also on their part will use the internet to directly research the their desirable flower varieties, compare prices and make orders to suppliers of choice or even directly to the grower who will then execute their orders. The ultimate effect of this is that the traditional wholesaler will no more be relevant in the marketing channels and therefore will have to inevitably be disintermediated. References Author. (Year). Clarks Flower Shops: Will Disintermediation Occur in the Channel?