39. What is the most typical channel of distribution?

1. Producer sells directly to end users via own sales force, direct response advertising or direct mail (mail order).

2. Producer  retailers  end users

3. Producer  wholesalers/agents  retailers  end-users

4. Producer  wholesalers  directly to end-users

5. Producer  multiple store groups/department stores/mail order house/e-mail  end-users

6. Producer  market  wholesalers  retailers  end-users.

40. What are the main stages of a products life-cycle?

1. Designing;

2. Developing;

3. Manufacturing (producing);

4. Launching;

5. Promotion.

41. What are the most efficient types of advertising?

1. TV commercials and radio;

2. Classified advertisement in newspapers;

3. Advertising in Internet;

4. Open air hoardings/billboards;

5. Neon signs;

6. Special display;

7. Display advertisement;

The most efficient type of advertising depends on the product and target audience.

42. What are the most efficient promotion techniques?

1. Free gifts with every purchase;

2. Free samples (a small amount of the product to try to taste);

3. Leaflets and brochures;

4. Special offer such as a discount or reduced price;

5. Indirect advertising (when product is used in movies);

6. Competition with prizes;

7. Loyalty cards (can offer discount or give bonuses exchange of points);

8. Cross-promotion (when one buys product and then is recommended to buy another product that may go with it).

9. Product endorsement (when celebrities recommend a product);

10. Sponsorship (where companies sponsor (pay some of the costs of) events like concerts and sports events).

11. Word of mouth (it is an unpaid form of promotion—oral or written—in which satisfied customers tell other people how much they like a business, product, service, or event).

12. Showrooms (a showroom is a large space used to display products for sale, such as automobiles, furniture, appliances, carpet or apparel).

The most efficient promotion technique depends on the product and target audience.

43. What is the role of an intermediary (a retailer, a distributor, etc.)?

The middle-man is not normally someone who just takes his ‘cut’ but someone whose own sales force and delivery system can make the product more easily and cost-effectively available to the largest number of customers. One principle behind this is ‘breaking down the bulk’: the producer may sell in minimum quantities of, say 10 000 to the wholesaler, who sells in minimum quantities of 100 to the retailer, who sells in minimum quantities of 1 to the end-user. A confectionery manufacturer doesn’t deliver individual bars of chocolate to consumers: distribution is done through wholesalers and then retailers who each ‘add value’ to the product by providing a good service to their customers and stocking a wide range of similar products.

44. What kinds of stores are there in big cities?

1. Chain store: part of a group of shops, all with the same name.

2. Convenience store: small shop in a residential area and open long hours.

3. Deep discounter: a supermarket with very low prices.

4. Department store: very large shop with a wide variety of goods, usually in a town centre.

5. Drugstore: shop in a town centre in the US which sells medicines; one can also have coffee and meals there.

6. Hypermarket: very large shop with a wide variety of goods, usually outside a town.

7. Supermarket: very large shop, selling mainly food.

8. Shopping center or shopping precinct is a purpose-built area or building in a town centre with a number of shops.

9. Shopping malls: are outside towns, it is easy to park there.