Marketing Management, Millenium Edition - epiheirimatikotita.gr

What Work is Performed by Marketing Channels? 239Figure 5-3Consumer and Industrial Marketing Channelsmanufacturers’ redemption centers, community groups, traditional intermediariessuch as soft-drink intermediaries, trash-collection specialists, recycling centers, trashrecyclingbrokers, and central-processing warehousing. 4Service Sector ChannelsThe concept of marketing channels is not limited to the distribution of physical goods.Producers of services and ideas also face the problem of making their output availableand accessible to target populations. For instance, schools develop “educationaldisseminationsystems” and hospitals develop “health-delivery systems.” These institutionsmust determine agencies and locations for reaching a population that is spreadout over an area. Similarly, many states face the problem of locating branch campusesto serve a burgeoning and increasingly well-educated population, just as cities mustfind ways of creating and locating playgrounds children. 5As Internet technology advances, service industries such as banking, travel,and securities trading are putting more emphasis on this fast-growing channel.Consider the decisions faced by Merrill Lynch, a full-service, full-price brokeragefirm that traditionally sold stocks and bonds through its 17,000 commissioned brokers.After watching discount broker Charles Schwab grab an early—and sizable—head start in on-line securities trading, Merrill Lynch fought back by launching itsMerrill Lynch Direct Web site (www.mldirect.ml.com). This site allows the firm’scustomers to access financial data and trade securities without their brokers, at feeswell below the firm’s standard commission rates. In embracing this channel, MerrillLynch is seeking to retain customers who want to trade electronically; at the sametime, the firm needs to use its Internet presence to bring in new customers withoutcannibalizing transactions that otherwise would have been handled by its brokers atfull commission. 6