Part I: Choose a company/product to investigate. This should be a company/brand/product you are interested in, even if you cannot afford to buy their products (ex: Rolex). Include a brief description of the company including its mission statement and overall marketing strategy (cost based or differentiated). Identify all the ways customers can purchase the focal company’s product(s). Does the company use multiple or a single channel? Describe the environment factors that affect either the channel members or the channel structure; this includes competitive (horizontal, vertical etc), legal, sociocultural, economic, and technological factors.
Part II: Discuss the structure of the channel (see the figure below). How many levels are there? If possible, identify how many and who the intermediaries are? What is the company’s distribution intensity? How does the company’s selection of channel members and channel structure fit with its mission statement and overall marketing strategy?
Part III: Provide your observations and recommendations. Through researching your company and its marketing channel, what have you learned and observed? What would you recommend to your company to help it improve or sustain its marketing channel (ex: make it more efficient, bolster relationships with channel members, more closely align their members with their mission statement, etc.)? Provide three observations and three recommendations.