GETTING YOUR PRODUCTS TO MOVE:
Distribution, Branding & Other Marketing “Musts”

Products are not meant to stay inside your factory or warehouse.  You’ve got to get them moving from there to their final destination – the hands of the people who will use them.

            Your products need not be available everywhere but only in places where your customers are likely to look for them.  People will not look for your fruit preserves in an appliance store.  Nor would they expect to get your fancy bangles and fashion accessories in a neighborhood convenience store. 

            To push your product from where you make them to where you want them to be, think “distribution channels.”  These are the individuals and businesses through which your products will pass on their way to the end users.  One of these is the independent sales agent. 

            Because many small businessmen have a scale of operations that does not justify putting up a fulltime sales group, they might consider hiring a sales agent. 

Engaging sales agents

Selling for others is the business of independent sales agents.  Representing several clients on a commission basis, they solicit orders for clients in certain territories. Some agents are not individuals but firms with employees who help the agent cover a wider area.

Agents can offer a small manufacturer a built-in following in given territories.  They have a thorough knowledge of the territory and the customers they serve.  Moreover, an agent only gets paid on results.  They are paid, not regular salaries, but a percentage of sales.  They also pay for their own travel expenses.

On the other hand, sales agents are specialists in selling only.  They can seldom afford to offer service selling.  They are not your employees, and so they devote only part of their time to your products because they handle a number of lines.  Agents are free spirits who operate according to the terms of your agreement with them.  There is also the danger that when you terminate your relationship with them, they may take a number of your customers to a new client.

Wholesalers and retailers

            The alternative to selling through sales agents is selling through wholesalers or retailers or both.

• Wholesalers.  These are companies that buy in volume from manufacturers and in turn sell the products in smaller volumes to retailers.
• Retailers.  These are the stores and shops that finally sell the products to the end users or consumers.  Retailing establishments range in size from the very big department stores and supermarkets to the small corner or sari-sari stores.

Choosing channels

Distribution channels should be designed specifically to meet the needs of your enterprise.  For example, if you plan to distribute your product on a nationwide scale,  you would find it productive to use agents in conjunction with your own sales force.

New products commonly require distribution channels different from those needed for already well-known products.  For example, a new company started selling its high-priced germicidal toilet soap through drug stores and upscale department stores.  When the soap became a well-established product, the company expanded its distribution channels to include supermarkets and grocery stores.

If you are a manufacturer, your distributors and retailers should be willing to work with you on product promotion.  You may arrange cooperative advertising with your dealers so that you may share promotion costs. 

            Avoid using multiple distribution channels as this may lead to conflict.  Distribution can be adversely affected unless these conflicts are resolved. For example, a manufacturer was selling leather bags to department stores.  As he was not content with the volume of sales, he thought of distributing the bags through wholesalers.  As a result, the department stores dropped the product because the lower prices offered by the wholesalers made it difficult for them to compete. 

Timing is crucial

Not only should you make sure that your products are available in the right places, but also at the right time.  Marketing at the right time requires that you know when the customers buy your products:  daily? weekly? monthly? yearly?  Only on payday?  Once in a great while?  It also means knowing your if product is seasonal or in demand all year round.

Branding

            When you distribute your product, you put a brand to it.  Brand is the name by which your product will be known.  It is important because it is the name by which your product will be identified and will be distinguished from others.  Branding simplifies control of the commercial process.  Imagine a buyer in a grocery store agonizing over  so many choices of the same product – all unbranded, with nothing to distinguish one from the other!

            When you brand your product, you give it the necessary advertising and promotional support. That is the only way to generate interest in your product and create patronage.

            A good brand name is one that is easy to recognize and remember.  So, it should be short, simple, appropriate and catchy – easy to spell, read, and pronounce.  It should also be euphonic  or pleasant sounding.  Think in terms of “Lux,” “Rejoice,” “Zesto,” and “Presto” rather than  “Scheaffers,” “Haagen Daz” or “Soie de Reine.” 

            The brand must also be adaptable to packaging and labeling requirements as well as to advertising medium, especially billboards and TV.  Remember that the name you give to your product should be one that is not already being used by another firm.  This is why brand names are registered with the Patents Office.

Packaging

            Packaging refers to the activities involved in designing and producing the containers or wrapper for a product.  Don’t dismiss packaging as merely added cost.   Ultimately,  packaging may reduce total distribution costs by:

• Protecting the products and providing ease of physical handling, thus reducing damage and loss.
• Providing more promotional impact than could be obtained in other ways for the same money, thereby increasing sales and turnover.

There are no clear-cut rules for making packaging decisions.  The right package depends on such factors as:

• Susceptibility of the product to damage.
• The hazards to which the product will normally be exposed.
• The length of time the product must remain in the package and still be in satisfactory condition.
• The promotional role of the package.

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