【正文】 of pathways a product or service follows after production, culminating in purchase and use by the final end user. Some intermediariessuch as wholesalers and retailersbuy, take title to, and resell the merchandise。 they are called facilitators. The Importance of Channels A marketing channel system is the particular set of marketing channels a firm employs, and decisions about it are among the most critical ones management faces. In the United States, channel members collectively have earned margins that account for 30% to 50% of the ultimate selling price. In contrast, advertising typically has accounted for less than 5% to 7% of the final channels also represent a substantial opportunity cost. One ofthe chief roles of marketing channels is to convert potential buyers into profitable customers. Marketing channels must not just serve markets, they must also make markets. The channels chosen affect all other marketing decisions. The pany39。 sales agents, a few wholesalers, several established retailers, a few trucking ?panies, and a few warehouses. Deciding on the best channels might not be a problem。s Aldi, the United Kingdom39。s preferred ways of doing business. Customers expect channel integration, characterized by features such as:the ability to order a product online and pick it up at a convenient retail location； the ability to return an onlineordered product to a nearby store of the retailer； the right to receive 5 discounts and promotional offers based on total online and offline purchases. Circuit City estimated instore pickups accounted for more than half its online sales in 2021. Here39。 and (3) Affinity customers who primarily sought stores that suited people like themselves or the members ofgroups they aspired to join. As Figure shows, customer profiles for these types of retailers differed across the three markets: In France, shoppers placed more importance on service and quality, in the United Kingdom, affinity, and in Germany, price and value. Even the same consumer, though, may choose to use different channels for different functions in making a purchase. For instance, someone may choose to browse through a catalog before visiting a store or take a testdrive at a dealer before ordering a car online. Consumers may also seek different types of channels depending on the particular types of goods involved. Some consumers are willing to trade up to retailers offering higherend goods such as TAG Heuer watches or Callaway golf clubs。 of275,OOO developers in the Palm Developer Network who have created over 21,000 software programs and 100 hardware addons for the Palm operating systems for handheld puters and smartphones. Demand chain planning yields several insights. First, the pany can estimate whether more money is made upstream or downstream, in case it might want to integrate backward or forward. Second, the pany is more aware of disturbances anywhere in the supply chain that might cause costs, prices, or supplies to change suddenly. Third, panies can go online with their business partners to carryon faster and more accurate munications, transactions, and payments to reduce costs, speed up information, and increase accuracy. For example, Ford not only manages numerous supply chains but also sponsors or transacts on many B2B Web sites and exchanges as needs arise. Managing this value work has required panies to make increasing investments in information technology (IT) and software. Firms have introduced supply chain management (SCM) software and invited such software firms as SAP and Oracle to design prehensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to manage cash flow, manufacturing, human resources, purchasing, and other major functions within a unified framework. They hope to break up department silos and carry out core business processes more seamless!y. In most cases, however, panies are still a long way from truly prehensive ERP systems. Marketers, for their part, have traditionally focused on the side of the value work that looks toward the customer, adopting customer relationship management (CRM) software and practices. In the future, they will increasingly participate in and 8 influence their panies39。 渠道的重要性 營銷渠道系統(tǒng)是公司分銷渠道中的一個特別組成部分，對于營銷渠道系統(tǒng)的決策是管理者面臨的最重要的問題之一。此外，渠道決策包括對其他公司所做的相對長期的承諾以及一系列政策和程序。拉動戰(zhàn)略適用的情況包括高品牌忠誠度、搞產(chǎn)品攝入，即人們能夠認(rèn)知不同品牌間的差異以及人們在去商店之前就選好購買哪個品牌。畢竟，在激進(jìn)的廣告帶來的巨額利潤的同時，它也使數(shù)以千計的美國成年人面臨心臟病的危險。這些中間商的數(shù)量是有限的：少數(shù)制造商代理人、少數(shù)批發(fā)商、幾個零售商、少數(shù)運(yùn)輸公司和倉庫，選擇最好的渠道可能不是問題，問題是如何說服現(xiàn)有中間商為公司服務(wù)， 如果公司成功了，他可能會進(jìn)入新的市場并在其他市場內(nèi)各種使用不同的渠道。思考戴爾公司近些年來遇到的一些挑戰(zhàn) 。經(jīng)理們評估呼叫中心的雇員接每個電話所用的時間，以解