You better believe it – Distribution’s a business

So many marketers, particularly smaller marketers of consumer products, are under the impression that their distributors are their friends. Well they may be. But that doesn’t mean they handle your product at their sacrifice.

Distribution’s a business and they intend to make a profit as much as the manufacturer does. But being very close to the customer, they realize the key factor of marketing, the foundation of marketing is customer knowledge.

Distributors, be they grocery stores, hardware stores, bearing distributors or industrial distributors, work hard to build customer relationships. This takes work, effort, tools and money.

You see, for most distributors, the products they handle are essentially commodities. The customer can purchase the exact same product from some other distributor. Very few distributors have exclusives. Why should the customer purchase their Revlon shampoo from me rather than from the store down the street?

Because I have worked hard to build up a relationship with them.

Now you as a manufacturer want me to handle your product. Why should I do that? What kind of customer relationships have you built? Will my handling your product bring new customers into my store? Will it result in my customers being more loyal to me?

No? Well you better be prepared to “pay” because it looks to me like you want me to handle your product because of the customers I bring to you.

That’s going to cost you.

I may be your friend and we all prefer to do business with friends. But this is business now and we must be fair. I own the customer relationship and I’m not going to just give it to you.

I’m running a business.