Marketing Intermediaries
Marketing intermediaries Marketing intermediaries help the company to promote, sell, and distribute its prod-
Firms that help the company to promote, ucts to final buyers. They include resellers, physical distribution firms, marketing serv-sell, and distribute its goods to final buyers. }ces agencies, and financial intermediaries. Resellers are distribution channel firms that help the company find customers or make sales to them. These include wholesalers and retailers who buy and resell merchandise. Selecting and partnering with resellers is not easy. No longer do manufacturers have many small, independent resellers from which to choose. They now face large and growing reseller organizations such as Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Costco, and Best Buy. These organizations frequently have enough power to dictate terms or even shut smaller manufacturers out of large markets.
Physical distribution firms help the company to stock and move goods from their points of origin to their destinations. Marketing services agencies are the marketing research firms, advertising agencies, media firms, and marketing consulting firms that help the company target and promote its products to the right markets. Financial intermediaries include banks, credit companies, insurance companies, and other businesses that help finance transactions or insure against the risks associated with the buying and selling of goods.
Like suppliers, marketing intermediaries form an important component of the company's overall value delivery system. In its quest to create satisfying customer relationships, the company must do more than just optimize its own performance. It must partner effectively with marketing intermediaries to optimize the performance of the entire system.
Thus, today's marketers recognize the importance of working with their intermediaries as partners rather than simply as channels through which they sell their products. A For example, when Coca-Cola signs on as the exclusive beverage provider for a fast-food chain, such as McDonald's, Wendy's, or Subway, it provides much more than just soft drinks. It also pledges powerful marketing support.

Partnering with marketing intermediaries: Coca-Cola provides its retail partners with much more than just soft drinks. It also pledges powerful marketing support.
Coke assigns cross-functional teams dedicated to understanding the finer points of each retail partner's business. It conducts a staggering amount of research on beverage consumers and shares these insights with its partners. It analyzes the demographics of U.S. zip code areas and helps partners to determine which Coke brands are preferred in their areas. Coca-Cola has even studied the design of drive-through menu boards to better understand which layouts, fonts, letter sizes, colors, and visuals induce consumers to order more food and drink. Based on such insights, the Coca-Cola FoodService group develops marketing programs and merchandising tools that help its retail partners to improve their beverage sales and profits. For example, it recently created its Ponle Mas Sabor Con Coca-Cola program designed to help retail partners take full advantage of opportunities in the fast-growing Hispanic market. Coca-Cola FoodService's Web site, www.CokeSolutions.com, provides retailers with a wealth of information, business solutions, and merchandising tips. Such intense partnering efforts have made Coca-Cola a runaway leader in the U.S. fountain soft-drink market.3
Continue reading here: Changing Age Structure of the Population
Was this article helpful?
Readers' Questions
-
Robert1 month ago
- Reply
-
CARADOC CLAYHANGER1 month ago
- Reply
-
semere1 month ago
- Reply
-
Jessika5 months ago
- Reply
-
DEHAB6 months ago
- Reply
-
phillipp bach7 months ago
- Reply
-
bailey12 months ago
- Reply
-
Dieter1 year ago
- Reply
-
clorinda1 year ago
- Reply
-
JASPER1 year ago
- Reply
-
linda1 year ago
- Reply
-
annabella1 year ago
- Reply
-
dieter1 year ago
- Reply
-
paul sweat1 year ago
- Reply
-
Silke Rothstein1 year ago
- Reply
-
tito1 year ago
- Reply
-
Jakob1 year ago
- Reply
-
albina li fonti1 year ago
- Reply
-
PORRO1 year ago
- Reply
-
tobias1 year ago
- Reply
-
Neftalem1 year ago
- Reply
-
Daavid1 year ago
- Reply
-
eetu k1 year ago
- Reply
-
ilaria1 year ago
- Reply
-
simon1 year ago
- Reply
-
Ruaraidh1 year ago
- Reply
-
marilyn1 year ago
- Reply
-
myla1 year ago
- Reply
-
mario1 year ago
- Reply
-
hollie scott1 year ago
- Reply
-
pamphila1 year ago
- Reply
-
haddas1 year ago
- Reply
-
Lidia1 year ago
- Reply
-
germana1 year ago
- Reply
-
juha1 year ago
- Reply
-
Terzo1 year ago
- Reply
-
damian1 year ago
- Reply
-
mentha1 year ago
- Reply
-
BELLADONNA1 year ago
- Reply
-
Thomas1 year ago
- Reply
-
VICKIE1 year ago
- Reply
-
KATJA1 year ago
- Reply
-
nicodemo castiglione1 year ago
- Reply
-
habaccuc hornblower1 year ago
- Reply
-
osman1 year ago
- Reply
-
kirstin1 year ago
- Reply
-
ELELETA1 year ago
- Reply
-
Severi1 year ago
- Reply
-
MADOC T1 year ago
- Reply
-
may1 year ago
- Reply
-
sandra1 year ago
- Reply
-
Vernon1 year ago
- Reply
-
marcel1 year ago
- Reply
-
Maija Virta1 year ago
- Reply
-
Mezan1 year ago
- Reply
-
simonetta1 year ago
- Reply
-
arwen1 year ago
- Reply
-
Nebay1 year ago
- Reply
-
Abrha1 year ago
- Reply
-
kyran1 year ago
- Reply
-
Niina Weckstr1 year ago
- Reply
-
diana baader1 year ago
- Reply
-
omar douglas1 year ago
- Reply
-
Tobias Eichelberger1 year ago
- Reply
-
carl1 year ago
- Reply
-
hanno ollanketo1 year ago
- Reply
-
taylor1 year ago
- Reply
-
natalina napolitano1 year ago
- Reply
-
abelino1 year ago
- Reply
-
Ellen1 year ago
- Reply