Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach

Perreault−McCarthy: Basic

Marketing: A

Global−Managerial

Approach, 14/e

13. Retailers, Wholesalers
    and Their Strategy
    Planning

Text © The McGraw−Hill

Companies, 2002

356 Chapter 13

Shop@Friedas, but it doesn’t

compete directly with super-

markets. Rather, it sells a

limited-line of giftselections

like the “Asian Basket,” “Chile

Lover’s Basket,” and other

specialty items. Pictures and

descriptions of the different

baskets are on the firm’s

website at http://www.friedas.com,

where consumers can order

online. The website also has a

Club Frieda section.

Consumer-members of the

club get recipes and advance

notices of new products and

local promotions. The website

also invites consumers to be

the “eyes and ears of the com-

pany” and send in ideas about

interesting new products.

Building relationships with

consumers isn’t new at

Frieda’s. Earlier the Caplans

developed a database with

detailed information about

preferences and buying habits

of 100,000 consumers. These

consumers wrote the com-

pany in response to an

invitation on Frieda’s label.

Frieda’s continues to have

an advantage with many

supermarkets because con-

sumers love its products and it

offers many special services. It

was the first to routinely use

airfreight for orders and to

send produce managers a

weekly “hot sheet” about the

best sellers. The Caplans also

use seminars and press

releases to inform produce

buyers about how to improve

sales. For example, one atten-

tion-getting story was about

Frieda’s “El Mercado de

Frieda” line, which helps retail-

ers do a better job attracting

and serving Hispanic cus-

tomers_a growth segment in

many locales. Now that more

consumers are eating out,

Frieda’s is looking beyond the

grocery store channel. It has

also established a separate

division to help the company

grow by serving the special

needs of food-service distribu-

tors. Frieda’s has been

successful for a long time, in

part because it keeps rein-

venting itself to constantly find

new ways to add value in the

channel.^1

Wholesalers and Retailers Plan Their Own Strategies

The Frieda’s case shows that wholesalers are often a vital link in a channel sys-

tem—and in the whole marketing process—helping both their suppliers and

customers. It also shows that retailers and wholesalers, like other businesses, must

select their target markets and marketing mixes carefully.

In Chapter 11, we discussed the functions that wholesalers and retailers perform

as intermediaries in channel systems. In this chapter, we’ll focus on the major deci-

sion areas that retailers and wholesalers consider in developing their own strategies.

We’ll also highlight how their strategies are changing.

In this chapter, we’ll highlight how retailers and wholesalers, and their strategies,

are evolving. It’s important to understand this evolution. One basic reason is that

the pace of change is accelerating. Some traditional approaches are being modified

and newer approaches, like selling from online websites, are prompting marketers

to come up with new and better ways to meet the needs of customers at the end

of the channel. If you understand the evolution, you will be better prepared for

changes that come in the future—and more change will come.

Understand how
retailing and
wholesaling are
evolving