Channel players and physical distribution

The retailers – one of the channel players – are businesses that purchase products for the purpose of reselling them to the ultimate consumers, the general public, often from a shop/store. They occupy a highly demanding and a very important position in the marketing channel as they function as the link between manufacturers and consumers. (Dibb, Ferrell, Simkin, & Pride, 2012)

As mentioned in last week’s review questions, retailers all over the world partake in the distribution of Coca-Cola. One of them is Jumbo – the 2^nd top ranking retailer in the Netherlands with over 580 stores. (Veraart Research, 2016) The store here in Deventer has a good shopping atmosphere, with Christmas decorations and complete with relaxing music to enhance the shopping experience. The shop has a yellow theme to represent Jumbo and its name.

Coca-Cola is located in the second aisle from the left, which can be very easy to see when walking in the store. I believe that Coca-Cola is placed at a very easily accessible spot (end of the shelf) as it is one of the best-selling soft drinks. 

Furthermore, Coca-Cola Classic (in white outline) alone occupies 1/8ths (12.5%) of the shelf for all soft drinks while all the Coca-Cola drinks combined has 30%. Jumbo’s own brands (in yellow outline) also has 12.5% of the soft drink shelf. Pepsi only fills 6.25%.

In theory, retailers will tend to devise their own market strategies in order to make adequate financial returns while ultimately striving to give satisfaction to the consumer. (Dibb, Ferrell, Simkin, & Pride, 2012) This is the reason why Jumbo has equal share of space for Coca-Cola Classic and their own-label brands. 

Another store that retails Coca-Cola is Albert Hein in Deventer. It also has music and decorations, however, in my opinion the atmosphere is not as good at Jumbo’s. Also, Jumbo presents Coca-Cola in a more attractive manner. In this store, Coca-Cola is located at the very left side where it can’t be easily seen when walking into the store. 

 Compared to Jumbo, Albert Hein allocates less space for their own-label soft drinks (outlined in blue) and an even lesser space for Pepsi. However, Coca-Cola has more facings and share of space here in Albert Hein. See table below. It can then be deduced that Coca-Cola is a better seller than AH’s own label brands.

Product	No. of facings		Share of Space
	Jumbo	Albert Hein	Jumbo	Albert Hein
Coca-Cola Classic	34	46	12.5%	28%
Pepsi	17	15	6.25%	2%
Own label	36	29	12.5%	10%

Transportation, packaging and communication are all connected in relation to Coca-Cola. Firstly, communication is involved when a retailer place purchase orders for Coke products either by mail, telephone, text, fax or computer. The manufacturer will then package the products in an appropriate manner, depending on the quantity the retailer has ordered. For instance, 1.5 L bottles / small cans can be packed in 6’s and can be sold for a promo/lower price. This will then make transportation by truck to the retailers (i.e. loading and unloading of Coca-Cola products), as well as displaying them in the store, considerably easier.

References

Dibb, S., Ferrell, O., Simkin, L., & Pride, M. (2012). Marketing Concepts & Strategies (6th ed.). Cengage Learning EMEA.

Veraart Research. (2016). Top Retailers in the Netherlands. Retrieved December 14, 2016, from Retail-Index website: http://www.retail-index.com/Countries/ToprankingretailersintheNetherlands.aspx