Monday, October 26, 2009
The wholesaler's role in the marketing channel: disintermediation vs. reintermediation
The internet technology has enabled a company to deal with its customers directly without using wholesalers, distributors, or agent. Does it mean that internet-based electronic commerce will remove the role of wholesalers in distribution channels? What does the reality say? What should wholesalers do to solve this challenge? Find out the answer in “The wholesaler’s role in the marketing channel: disintermediation vs. reintermediation”.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Thank you Raafi for this article. I found it very interesting. Disintermediation may be scary for retailers but I believe that they still have a role to play in the distribution channel. As long they can provide efficient services. Here is another article showing the impacts and examples of disintermediation:
http://ecommerce.hostip.info/pages/333/Disintermediation-EXAMPLES-DISINTERMEDIATION-ITS-IMPACT.html
Dear Raafi,
Unfortunately, I couldn't open the article ((
However, I have read the article provided by Maguette, and I've been reading an interesting book where I found some info regarding intermediaries. Let me quote ))
The exchange between business and consumer may or may not involve an intermediary. Where the cost of finding a seller is high, a consumer may prefer to go to an intermediary. For example, rather than worry about which of the thousands of book publishers produces a particular book, a consumer may prefer to go to amazon.com to look for the book. On the other hand, a consumer who wants to buy a computer may purchase one directly from Dell or one of the other major PC makers. Laws can also dictate that intermediaries must be where they would necessarily have to be. As of early 2002, for example, U.S. law did not permit consumers to buy automobiles directly from manufacturers. Consumers had to go through car dealers.
In my opinion the role of wholesaler will decrease over the time, but it will remain for a long , maybe, forever.
Disintermediation may be scary for retailers but I believe that they still have a role to play in the distribution channel. As long they can provide efficient services.
wholesaler
Post a Comment