Few producers sell their goods directly to the final
users.
Instead, most use intermediaries to bring their
products to market.
They try to forge a marketing channel (or
distribution channel) – a set of interdependent
organizations involved in the process of making a
product or service available for use or consumption
by the consumer or business user.
A company’s channel decision is critical to its
success for two reasons:
◦ Channel decision affect every other marketing
decision.
◦ Channel decisions often involve long-term
commitments to other firms involving B2B
relations and hence are not as easy or as
flexible to change as other marketing-mix
decisions.