What is Distribution Management as a Marketing Function?

Business & Management
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The fundamental idea of distribution management as a marketing function is that the management of distribution happens in an ecosystem that also involves the consideration of the following:

  • Product: Not always a tangible object, product can also refer to an idea, music, or information.
  • Price: This refers to the value of a good or service for both the seller and the buyer, which can involve both tangible and intangible factors, such as list price, discounts, financing, and likely response of customers and competitors.
  • Promotion: This is any communication used by a seller to inform, persuade, and/or remind buyers and potential buyers about the seller’s goods, services, image, ideas, and the impact it has on society.
  • Placement: This refers to the process that ensures the availability, accessibility, and visibility of products to ultimate consumers or business users in the target channels or customers where they prefer to buy.

Effective distribution management involves selling your product while assuring sufficient stocks in channels while managing promotions in those channels and their varying requirements. It also involves making sure a supply chain is efficient enough that distribution costs are low enough to allow a product to be sold at the right price, thus supporting your marketing strategy and maximizing profit.