Written Assignment #5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Written Assignment #5 - Essay Example because of their association with big organization, and their capability to purchase and stock high volume commodities, act as a distributor of the product. Traditionally, wholesalers were believed to be just an intermediary in the channel with no value addition to the customers, because of the common perception that value addition is done by the retailers only, who sell the final goods. But in the context of ever changing marketing scenario, this has been modified. Customers demand more and have higher expectations from their suppliers, especially distributors. Out of stock for a long time after placing order increases the lead time which is not desirable and it may result in customer penalizing both the wholesaler and the retailer for the incomplete order. Today, customer loyalty is based on supplier performance. Performance is both in terms of quality and timely delivery of the specified products. Customers’ ever increasing expectation of the value added services provided w ith the requirement without any additional cost has been responsible for exerting enormous pressure to the retailers. Thus, in order to handle the requirements, wholesalers must step forward and take proactive actions in terms of close integration with the customers by simplification of the distribution process in a timely and cost effective way and must ensure that the customers are perceiving value added services as unique (udel.edu, n.d.). Potential of the Internet as an efficient and effective communication channel appeared obvious due to the ease of global reach; ease of access; enhanced interactivity; speedy and flexible transaction of large amounts of information in a cost effective way and maintenance easiness (Pyle, 1996; Jones & Visayasarthy, 1998). Modern wholesalers and retailers are dependent on internet in the following