1. OTHER FUNCTIONS
1.1. Product promotion
1.1.1. involves advertising and sales promotion activities organized by manufacturers
1.1.2. eg-flash sales. buy one, get... coupons or discounts. giveaways or free samples. recurring sales. tripwires. limited time offer.
1.2. Negotiation
1.2.1. takes place between manufacturers and customers before closing a deal
1.2.2. Negotiation in terms of quality of product, guarantee, after sale services and finally price takes place before the transfer of ownership is done.
1.2.3. Distributive negotiation examples include haggling prices on an open market, including the negotiation of the price of a car or a home.
2. Channels of distribution help in smooth flow of goods by creating possession, place and time utilities.
2.1. 1) Transactional Functions
2.1.1. to bridge the gap between production and consumption for which various transactions are performed for movement of goods from one place to another called transactional functions.
2.1.2. Buying, selling and risk bearing functions come under this category
2.1.3. eg-Buying materials and other resources and selling finished goods or services are examples of transactional functions with external customers.
2.1.4. Some internal transactional functions, provided by employers as employee benefits, help attract and retain top talent.
2.2. 2) Logistical Functions
2.2.1. The functions involved in the physical exchange of goods are called logistical functions.
2.2.2. Assembling refers to the process of keeping the goods, purchased from different places, at a particular place.
2.2.3. Not only assembling but also storage, grading, sorting and transportation are essential for physical exchange of goods which forms logistical functions of physical distribution.
2.2.4. often more useful as models than exponential growth functions because they account for constraints placed on the growth.
2.2.5. An example is a bacteria culture allowed to grow under initially ideal conditions, followed by less favorable conditions that inhibit growth.
2.3. 3) Facilitating Functions
2.3.1. These functions facilitate both the transactional as well as physical exchange of goods.
2.3.2. These facilitating functions include post-purchase service and maintenance, financing, market information etc.
2.3.3. Sellers provide necessary information to buyers in addition to after sales services and financial assistance in the form of Sale on credit.
2.3.4. facilitating functions are composed of standardization, financing, risk bearing and market intelligence.
2.3.5. eg-Researching and financing