Chapter 15
International Marketing Channels
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Learning Objectives 1 of 2
15-1 The variety of distribution channels and how
they affect cost and efficiency in marketing
15-2 The Japanese distribution structure and what it
means to Japanese customers and to competing
importers of goods
15-3 How distribution patterns affect the various
aspects of international marketing
15-4 The functions, advantages, and disadvantages of
various kinds of middlemen
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Learning Objectives 2 of 2
15-5 The importance of selecting and maintaining
middlemen
15-6 The growing importance of e–commerce as a
distribution alternative
15-7 The interdependence of physical distribution
activities
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Channel-of–Distribution Structures 1 of 5
The Distribution Process
• Physical handling and distribution of goods
• Passage of ownership or title
• Buying and selling negotiations; between producer and
middlemen, middlemen and customers
Distribution Structure
• Marketer must select channel of distribution
• Activities of middlemen reflect existing competition,
characteristics, tradition, and economic development
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Channel-of–Distribution Structures 2 of 5
Import–Oriented Distribution Structure
• Importer controls fixed supply of goods
• Limited supply sold at high price to small group of customers
• Demand for products exceeds supply
• Market penetration and mass distribution not necessary
• Importer/wholesaler performs most marketing functions
• Not a chain of intermediaries like in mass–marketing system
• Leads to underdeveloped, nonexistent marketing infrastructure
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Marketing and Distribution in China
© John Graham
They’re in China, but they aren’t Peking ducks. The birds are for sale in
Guangzhou’s Qingping Free Market, the first farmers’ market to be opened in
China after the Cultural Revolution in 1979. This market was the place where
free enterprise found its rebirth. Every kind of food is for sale here—from
ducks to dogs, from scorpions to dried lizards on sticks.
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Channel-of–Distribution Structures 3 of 5
Japanese Distribution Structure
• Distinguishing features
1. High density of middlemen
