By Ayesha Saeed
Marketing Channels
Marketing channels are the medium through which the advertising messages travel to the target audience, it is the process through which the products travel from the point of production to the end-users who consume them, and they can also be referred to as channels of distribution. Examples of marketing channels include Social media marketing, Email marketing, Content Marketing, Word of mouth, and many others. These marketing channels can be distinguished into four broad categories that include direct selling, retail selling, wholesaler, and selling through an agent.
Social media marketing
Social media marketing is one of the
topmost marketing channels in the world right now because it helps reach a
large amount of target audience in a very cost-effective manner. The most
common social media channels include Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and
Twitter. The majority of the target market for almost all companies uses social
media and therefore it is very easy to reach your target audience and persuade
them to buy through repetitive advertising.
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Email marketing
This type of marketing is a sort of
direct marketing where personal emails are sent to the consumers. These emails
contain advertising messages. Companies can select the consumers to whom they
wish to send that email and can also personalize the advertising messages
according to the taste, preferences, and past purchases of the consumers.
Website
Advertising through the company website
is another form of advertising. Whenever a potential customer opens your
website, they would see all the latest product ads and they would learn more
about that specific business and its products.
DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
Direct Selling
Direct selling involves directly selling
a product to the consumers, which means that there are no intermediaries in the
supply chain process. Products are either sold physically in stores or online
through the company website or application. Direct selling involves direct
communication with the customer and the salesperson is in direct contact with
the consumer, providing them guidance and all the necessary information
required to make the purchase.
Retail Selling
Individuals involved in retailing buy
goods from manufacturing companies and sell them to the end-users of the
product. The manufacturer sells products like clothes, shoes, or furniture to
the retailer who acts as the intermediary. The consumers then purchase the
required products from the retailer. An example of retail selling includes
department stores or supermarkets. There are many online retail stores as well
and in the Pakistani context, an example could be Daraz.pk.
Wholesaling
Wholesaling includes buying the products
from the manufacturers and selling them to the consumers, in this way consumers
also have the benefit of bulk buying which can reduce their cost. However
wholesale does not always sell these products to the consumers directly, the
products may first travel to the retailer before they are sold to the consumer.
Both the wholesaler and retailer keep a certain amount of profit margin. Due to
this, the price of the product keeps increasing by the time it reaches the
end-user.
Selling through an Agent
This type of distribution channel also
involves more than one intermediary, the middlemen know as the agent is
responsible for transporting and selling the products from the manufacturer to
the end-user. Agents in general speed up the selling process.
