a. When selecting a location for a company, several aspects should be considered. Businesses should identify the extent of their contact with customers because such issues as traffic, parking, and convenience will influence clients’ decisions in terms of visiting a location of a high customer contact company or not. On the other hand, low customer contact businesses (such as manufacturing, support businesses, etc.) do not have to worry about the convenience of their client and select a location based on the needed utilities, employee access, costs, and available space.
b. Intermediaries can add value to product marketing because they can be useful for bringing important marketing knowledge, specialization, effective selling skills, and other advantages that enable companies to implement their marketing strategies in an effective way. For instance, in companies that use indirect exporting, intermediaries are necessary for handling the majority of exporting procedures.
c. Direct marketing distribution implies companies selling products to end users without the use of intermediaries. Advantages of this method include the greater focus on distribution, the elimination of expenses paid to intermediaries, the increased contract with customers, and the improved control over how companies promote, deliver, or display their products. Disadvantages of direct marketing distribution include the reduction of options for distributing products, the increased workload within organizations, and the raised costs on order fulfillment.
d. There are several differences between utilizing an intermediary and doing everything on one’s own. Within direct distribution, businesses are expected to manage everything from warehouses to trucks that deliver products to customers. Usually, such distribution channels are shorter. In indirect distribution with intermediaries, companies use entrusted logistic distributors that manage everything. Usually, despite being longer, such channels are simpler to manage.