Marketing - Distribution

E-tailing

Involves retailers selling products over the Internet to the consumer.

Rack Jobbers

Wholesalers that manage inventory and merchandising for retailers by counting stock, filling it in when needed, and maintaining store displays.

Private Warehouse

A facility designed to meet the specific needs of its owner.

Basic stock list

A list used for those staple items that should always be in stock.

Integrated Distribution

A manufacturer acts as a wholesaler and retailer for its own products by running their own retail operations. (Ex. Gap)

Distribution Center

A warehouse designed to speed delivery of goods and to minimize storage costs. Its focus is on sorting and moving products, not storing them.

Agents

Act as intermediaries by bringing buyers and sellers together, but they do not own the goods they sell.

Intensive Distribution

Aims to provide saturation coverage of the market by using all available outlets. For many products, total sales are directly linked to the number of outlets used (oil, soft drinks).

Inventory

All the goods stored by a business before they are sold.

Never-out list

An inventory monitoring plan used for best-selling products that make up a large percentage of sales volume.

Model stock list

An inventory monitoring plan used for merchandise that quickly goes out of fashion.

Perpetual inventory system

An inventory system that tracks the number of items in inventory on a constant basis.

Physical inventory system

An inventory system where every so often, stock is visually inspected or actually counted to determine the quantity on hand. Information about stock levels is not maintained on an ongoing basis.

E-marketplace

An online shopping location.

Intermediaries

Businesses involved in sales transactions that move products from the manufacturer to the final user; also known as middlemen.

Wholesalers

Businesses that buy large quantities of goods from manufacturers, store the goods, and then resell them to other businesses.

Just-in-time (JIT) inventory system

Coordinates demand and supply so that suppliers deliver parts and raw materials just before they are needed. This lets assembly and manufacturing plants keep only small stocks on hand.

Receiving record

Information recorded by businesses about the goods they receive.

Indirect Distribution

Involves one or more intermediaries in getting products from producer to consumer.

Exclusive Distribution

Involves protected territories for distribution of a product in a given geographical area. (Ex. Tom's Shoes)

Public Warehouse

It offers storage and handling facilities to any individual or company that will pay for its use.

Selective Distribution

Means that a limited number of outlets in a given geographic area are used to sell the product.

Unit control

Method of stock control which measures quantities of merchandise that a business handles during a stated period of time.

Direct Distribution

Occurs when the producer sells goods or services directly to the consumer with no intermediaries.

Bonded Warehouses

Public or private, store products that require the payment of a federal tax. Imported or domestic products cannot be removed until the required tax is paid.

Brick-and-Mortar Retailers

Sell goods to customers from their own physical stores.

Retailers

Sell goods to the final consumer for personal use.

Direct check method

The merchandise is checked directly against the actual invoice or purchase order.

Quality check method

The merchandise is checked to determine whether the quality of goods received matches the quality of the products, which were ordered.

Inventory turnover

The number of times the average inventory has been sold and replaced in a given period of time.

Channel of distribution

The path a product takes from its producer or manufacturer to the final user.

Dollar control

The planning and monitoring of the total inventory investment that a business makes during a stated period of time.

Inventory management

The process of buying and storing materials and products while controlling costs for ordering, shipping, handling, and storage.

Spot check method

The receiver of a delivery conducts a check of one carton in a shipment to see if the right kind and quantity of goods were delivered.

Blind check method

The receiver of a delivery writes the description of the merchandise, counts the quantities received, and lists them on a blank form or dummy invoice.

Distribution

The responsibility for moving, storing, locating, and/or transferring ownership of goods and services.

Drop Shippers

These people sell goods to other businesses and have the producer ship the merchandise directly to the buyers. These people own the goods they sell, but do not physically handle the actual products.