What is the concept of channel marketing?

Marketing Channel: We define a marketing channel as the path through which goods flow from producers to consumers or customers, as it is important to consider each point on the path in order to create a complete picture of how the goods are actually made and sold.

What are the types of marketing channels?

Consumer Manufacturer:

Goods reach consumers directly from the manufacturer. This channel is cost effective and profitable for both parties as there is no interference from intermediaries such as retailers, wholesalers and commission agents, which increases the overall price of the products.
For example: bakers sell the dessert directly to consumers who place their orders on the bakery’s website.

Manufacturer to Consumer Retailer:

The retailer buys from the manufacturer and then sells the merchandise to the consumer, this is one of the highly approved and preferred channels in the retail industry.
For example: buying clothes from designers and selling them to consumers.

Manufacturer to Wholesaler to Consumer:

Consumers looking for bulk purchases of specific items adopt this channel, as the wholesaler reduces the cost to the consumer, such as the cost of service or the cost of sales force, making items available to the consumer at cheaper rates.

For example: wholesalers, they buy products from the manufacturer and sell them to the consumer.

Manufacturer to distributor to seller to consumer

In this channel, the manufacturer uses a distributor service for the initial dispersal of goods, whereby products move from the manufacturer to one distributor or several distributors to sellers and finally to consumers.
This sales channel is widely seen in the distribution of perishable products where the goods need to reach the consumers in a short time frame.
Value-added reselling is one form of this distribution channel. The supplier adds a service or other compatible elements to deliver a complete turnkey solution to the consumer. The IT and office supply industry works this way.
For example: Dell partners with distributors such as (Ingram Micro, Tech Data) etc. to distribute their laptops, where the sellers buy from these distributors or add compatible software or packages such as printer, mouse, etc., and customers get The complete product is ready to use.