Building channel strategies and alliances in food distribution

A marketing channel is a set of interdependent organizations involved in the process of making a product (commodity) available for use or consumption. A marketing channel is not just one firm doing its best in the market—whether the firm is a producer, wholesaler, or retailer. Many entities are typically involved in the business of channel marketing. Each channel member depends on the others to do their jobs. For a branding professional, running a marketing channel is a process, not an event. Distribution frequently takes time to accomplish, and even when a sale is finally made the relationship with the consumer is usually not over. The purpose of channel marketing is to satisfy the consumers in the market. Their goal is the consumption of the commodity being sold. A producer who sells through distributors to retailers, those who serve the final consumers, may be tempted to think that it has generated sales and developed happy customers when its sales force successfully places a product in the distributors' warehouses