Communicating with the Real Customers
When advertising and marketing people talk about the "customer," most of the time, whether in B2C or in B2B, they are referring to the ultimate consumer, or end user—the person or household that actually consumes the final good or service. What is often overlooked is that the real customer for manufacturers of goods are members of the distribution channels, especially retailers. If these people don't buy, end users never have a chance to do so (other than through direct marketing).
Channel marketing is the process by which manufacturers build relationships with members of the distribution channel in order to get their products to end users. Modern-day channel marketing consists of three activities: trade promotion, co-marketing, and personal selling. The first two are the subjects of this chapter; personal selling is discussed in Chapter 16.
For many years manufacturers alone determined what products they would make and what promotions retailers would use. With the growth of powerful retail chains such as Wal-Mart, however, much of the control over product lines, as well as the movement of products through the distribution channel, has passed to the retailers.
Retailers carry only brands that sell well and increasingly are focusing on building relationships between their stores and their customers rather than between their customers and manufacturers' brands. As a result, manufacturers are struggling in this new retail environment to protect their brands, as well as get what they feel is their fair share of promotional support from retailers, which is what this chapter describes.
