The Nature and Importance of Marketing Channels - Essay Example

Once I used to own a grocery shop (sold vegetables and fruits from our garden) where I attended to customers individually. This was a great experience because I was able to master my customers and the products they preferred best and disliked most. Marketing intermediary refers to the involvement of a retailer or a wholesaler in the flow of goods to the consumer. This is the marketing channel that I have been involved in whereby I am a distributor of mineral water for a certain company in our local state (McCalley pp.6-92).

Marketing channels solve logistical problems in availing goods to the consumer. This is because they facilitate the physical distribution and sorting of goods. Moreover, they also offer facilitative advantages in that they may source vital information relevant to a business about competition, channel members, and customers. . It is also a great experience to research how customers respond to a new product in the distribution business and the grocery shop currently run by mum.

These channels are of great benefit to intermediaries in terms of finance since goods can be sold and purchased on credit and financed as they are being sold. In my distributorship business I always encountered financial problems, but courtesy of receiving goods with 30 days credit payment terms I remained in business

Moreover, they are opportunities for business to promote their products and companies by offering discounts, advertisements, gifts, and after-sale services. On several occasions, I had to provide discounts to my customers and I realized that with that customers always bought more because products were a little bit cheaper. Most businesses do make profits by giving rewards to their customers as they gain a competitive advantage.

Marketing channels offer a chance for the organization to contact and understand their customers’ needs which goes a long way in facilitating matching supply and demand. Matching the demand and the supply of products leads to efficiency and effectiveness of production. In addition, marketing channels offer various importance’s to a business organization like negotiation which helps both the producer and the consumer to come to a stable price of the product. In my business, I encountered customers who were not satisfied with the prices that I mentioned and they always aimed to buy at a discount.

Marketing channels are of great importance to consumers as they ensure they obtain goods and services at place and form they want- offering place and form utility to consumers. In conclusion, marketing channels fall either under direct selling or intermediary nature. Moreover, they are very important to consumers, intermediaries, and producers.