Mar 09
19
This article is bundled from previous Distribution and Selling article.
Pre-selling, and the directness of communication between manufacturer and consumer, has certainly changed the traditional role of the retailer, and indeed of the wholesaler too, in a great number of products. This process is still incomplete, and great changes are still taking places, but one thing is already plain -the traditional role of the retailer as a merchant, selling his own special “know-how” and service, is very nearly at an end, except in certain special fields, for instance fancy goods, fashion, and relatively low-value imported drapery. Incidentally, the latter are often merchandised on a straight selling comparison with branded goods, thus indirectly selling by a form of inverted branding. In other words “own brands” are sold to some extend on the advertising of the national brands.
The transformation of the retailer into a dispenser of branded goods is a process that is still very much in a state of flux -in so far so it is not yet possible to see the retail selling pattern settling down into what looks like a long term equilibrum. Even where this role as a branded goods dispenser is most in evidence, namely the grocery and mass-repeating products fields, there are indications that the struggle for the initiative between retailer and manufacturer is still being fought out.
The reason for this battle should be understood before one can begin to make an intelligent assessment of the distribution function.
