Marketing Distribution Channels: Web Usage and E-commerce

This report examines the role of the web as a distribution channel in marketing, outlining its advantages and disadvantages. The report discusses various aspects of web distribution, including marketing, advertising, and customer engagement, highlighting the benefits of reaching a wide audience and building brand impressions. It also addresses the challenges, such as difficulties in targeting specific demographics and the potential ineffectiveness of email marketing. The report further explores situations where establishing an e-commerce site might be inappropriate, such as when investment is lacking or when faced with intense competition. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of considering both the pros and cons of web distribution and provides insights into strategic decision-making for businesses. The references include several scholarly articles on the topic.

Running head: MARKETING DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
MARKETING DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
Name of Student
Name of University
Author’s Note

1MARKETING DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
Introduction
The distribution channel is a specific chain of intermediaries or business with the help of
which good service passes until it reaches the final customer (Alon, Jaffe & Prange, 2016). This
assignment describes the usage of the web as a distribution channel and its pros and cons.
1. Pros and cons of using the Web as a distribution channel
There are numerous marketing distribution channels available in the market, some of the
present channels include wholesaler/distributor, direct/internet, direct/catalog, direct/sales team,
value added reseller, consultant, dealer, retail and sales agent. Usage of the web as a distribution
channel can have various pros as well as cons. web can be used as a distribution channel for
various steps of distribution, some include marketing, advertising, dealing, retailing and many
more. The pros of using Web for advertisement include impression on customers, suppose a user
is going through various videos available in the net, even if the user does not open the
advertisement or view it completely; he would get an overview of the brand or the organization
on which the advertisement is (Kozlenkova, Hult & Lund, 2015). The user would get a blur
impression regarding the company and what it deals with. In this process organizations are able
to present their brand through visuals. One more advantage includes the connection with
customers, if the web is used as a distribution channel, the organization would be able to connect
to various customers irrespective of their geographical location, and they would be able to reach
out to them and understand their requirements as well as fulfill them through their services.
Some cons of using Web as a distribution channel is that it would be difficult for the
organization to reach to the demographics that the company is looking for, the display
advertising would not allow the organization to know the actual requirements and demands of
their target customers. If the organization initiates the process of sending emails to their

2MARKETING DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
customers for marketing purpose, it would not be much effective because people might not go
through the emails (Alon, Jaffe & Prange, 2016). The search engine is also a disadvantage for
their organization because if the company is not well known, people would not know regarding it
through a specific search engine. Some ways by which distribution channels can be changed
include preservation of existing channels, soughing legislation, offering code provisions and
some more. The major step that must be taken before shifting distribution channel would be
detecting the target customers.
2. Situations where it is inappropriate for a company to establish an e-commerce site
E-commerce channels are very beneficial in some cases but they may also provide
disadvantages to several companies. Some benefits and drawbacks of e-commerce sites include
eliminating the need for physical stores, the usage of e-commerce sites helps an organization to
be independent of a physical store, and they do not rely on the stores for selling their products or
services but in some cases people might find it unfriendly to use e-commerce sites (Wirtz &
Lovelock, 2016). Sometimes users do not find the e-commerce sites trustworthy. Some situations
where it is not appropriate for an organization to establish an e-commerce site are as follows
No actual investment: similar to new business and the fledgling online store might
require several infusions of a specific amount of capital as well as a significant amount of labor
(Watson, Worm & Palmatier, 2015). In case an organization does not have such investments, it
must not switch to any e-commerce site.
Competition: if the products or services provided by the organization face a huge
amount of competition, the organization must not switch to an e-commerce site because it might
lose its individuality.

3MARKETING DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
Conclusion
From the above assignment it can be concluded that the usage of the web as a distribution
channel has numerous pros as well as cons. Some pros include individuality of the brand,
impression on their customers and maintaining a good relation with them and the cons include
unable to contact with customers in real time, huge competitions and some more. It further
discusses the situations when a company must not use the web as their distribution channel.

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References
Alon, I., Jaffe, E., Prange, C., & Vianelli, D. (2016). Global Placement and Distribution
Channels. In Global Marketing(pp. 499-537). Routledge.
Kozlenkova, I. V., Hult, G. T. M., Lund, D. J., Mena, J. A., & Kekec, P. (2015). The role of
marketing channels in supply chain management. Journal of Retailing, 91(4), 586-609.
Watson IV, G. F., Worm, S., Palmatier, R. W., & Ganesan, S. (2015). The evolution of
marketing channels: Trends and research directions. Journal of Retailing, 91(4), 546-568.
Wirtz, J., & Lovelock, C. (2016). Services marketing. World Scientific Publishing Company.