Microsoft Word marketing doc

M
IDDLEMEN
 
There are two channels of distribution. 
1. 
Direct 
Channel 
2. 
Indirect 
Channel 
Direct Channel : 
The manufacturer sells the goods directly to the consumers without any 
marketing intermediary. 
Indirect Channel : 
The manufacturer sells the goods to the consumers through middlemen. 
Since it is not possible for producers to contact consumers directly, direct 
channels of distribution are not popular. Producers have started depending on 
the indirect channels to sell their goods. This has resulted in utilising the 
services of middlemen. 
American Marketing Association
, defined the term middlemen as one who 
specialises in performing operations of rendering services that are directly 
involved in the purchase and sale of goods in the process of their flow from the 
producers to users. The middlemen perform the functions of procurement, 
storage, packing, financing, transportation etc. 

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The different types of middlemen are shown in the below stated chart. 
MIDDLEMEN 
Merchant
Agent 
Middlemen 
Middlemen 
Whole 
salers 
Retailers 
Manufactu- 
Retail Merchant Small Scale 
Large Scale 
rer whole 
whole whole
Retailers 
Retailers 
saler
saler
saler 
Unit 
Street Market Hawkers Cheep Syndicate 
stores traders traders 
and
Jacks stores 
Peddlers 
Departmental Chain Mail order Cooperative Super 
Stores 
Stores Houses 
Stores 
Markets 
Commission Brokers Forwarding Clearing Auctioners Factors 
Agent 
Agents Agents 
Let us discuss the types of middlemen one after the other. 
Merchant Middlemen : 
Merchant middlemen are those who take title to the goods and carry 
business at their own risk. Merchant middlemen perform exchange functions 
i.e. buying and selling and they do perform auxiliary functions such as 
warehousing, transportation, insurance, advertising, etc. 
Merchant middlemen are classified as wholesalers and retailers. 

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Wholesaler : 
Wholesaler may be defined as “one who sells to other middlemen, 
institutions and industrial buyers, usually in fairly large quantities. 
According to Evelyn Thomas, “a true wholesaler is himself neither a 
manufacturer nor a retailer but acts as a link between the two”. 
Wholesaler sells the goods to other middlemen but doesn’t sell to the 
ultimate consumers.