Perreault−McCarthy: Basic
Marketing: A
Global−Managerial
Approach, 14/e
- Retailers, Wholesalers
and Their Strategy
Planning
Text © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2002Retailers, Wholesalers, and Their Strategy Planning 387- Discuss a few changes in the marketing environ-
ment that you think help to explain why telephone,
mail-order, and Internet retailing have been grow-
ing so rapidly. - What are some advantages and disadvantages to us-
ing the Internet for shopping? - Apply the wheel of retailing theory to your local
community. What changes seem likely? Will estab-
lished retailers see the need for change, or will
entirely new firms have to develop? - What advantages does a retail chain have over a re-
tailer who operates with a single store? Does a small
retailer have any advantages in competing against a
chain? Explain your answer. - Many producers are now seeking new opportunities
in international markets. Are the opportunities for
international expansion equally good for retailers?
Explain your answer. - Discuss how computer systems affect wholesalers’
and retailers’ operations. - Consider the evolution of wholesaling in relation to
the evolution of retailing. List several changes that are
similar, and several that are fundamentally different. - Do wholesalers and retailers need to worry about
new-product planning just as a producer needs to
have an organized new-product development
process? Explain your answer. - How do you think a retailer of Maytag washing ma-
chines would react if Maytag set up a website, sold
direct to consumers, and shipped direct from its dis-
tribution center? Explain your thinking. - What risks do merchant wholesalers assume by tak-
ing title to goods? Is the size of this risk about
constant for all merchant wholesalers? - Why would a manufacturer set up its own sales branches
if established wholesalers were already available? - What is an agent middleman’s marketing mix?
- Why do you think that many merchant middle-
men handle competing products from different
producers, while manufacturers’ agents usually han-
dle only noncompeting products from different
producers? - What alternatives does a producer have if it is trying
to expand distribution in a foreign market and finds
that the best existing merchant middlemen won’t
handle imported products? - Discuss the future growth and nature of wholesaling
if chains, scrambled merchandising, and the Internet
continue to become more important. How will whole-
salers have to adjust their mixes? Will wholesalers be
eliminated? If not, what wholesaling functions will be
most important? Are there any particular lines of trade
where wholesalers may have increasing difficulty?
Suggested Cases- Runners World
- Mixed Media Technologies, Inc.
15. Modern Horizons, Inc.
16. Morgan Company
wholesaler, Margaret Degan & Associates, is a manufac-
turers’ agent that calls on many of the gift shops in the
territory.
Art Glass makes a variety of glass items, but the cost
of making an item is usually about the same—$5.20 a
unit. The items would sell to Giftware Distributing at
$12.00 each—and in turn the merchant wholesaler’s
price to retailers would be $14.00—leaving Giftware
with a $2.00 markup to cover costs and profit. Giftware
Distributing is the only reputable merchant wholesaler
in the territory, and it has agreed to carry the line only if13.Selecting Channel Intermediaries
Art Glass Productions, a producer of decorative glass
gift items, wants to expand into a new territory. Man-
agers at Art Glass know that unit sales in the new
territory will be affected by consumer response to the
products. But sales will also be affected by which combi-
nation of wholesalers and retailers Art Glass selects.
There is a choice between two wholesalers. One whole-
saler, Giftware Distributing, is a merchant wholesaler
that specializes in gift items; it sells to gift shops, depart-
ment stores, and some mass-merchandisers. The otherComputer-Aided Problem