Broadly speaking, the practice of a purveyor of goods trading with another is as old as commerce itself. In relation to marketing today, its history is more recent. Michael Morris, Leyland Pitt and Earl Dwight Honeycutt say that for several years business marketing took "a back seat" to consumer marketing.[1] This entailed providers of goods or services selling directly to households through mass media and retail channels. J. David Lichtenthal (professor of marketing at Zicklin School of Business) notes that business marketing has existed since the mid-19th century. He adds that the bulk of research on business marketing has come in the last 25 years