ABSTRACT
Chapter 9 focuses on topics relevant to international channels. It begins with an articulation of the relevance of international marketing channels and then discusses various key specialty middlemen utilized in international and export marketing, including export management companies and export trading companies. This is followed by a discussion of piggybacking and a look at international retailers and international franchising, especially master franchising. Retailers expanding internationally face many challenges finding suitable locations, establishing physical logistics operations, and developing parallel supplier relationships. Retailers have to be aware of differences across countries in zoning, labor, and operational practices. Chapter 9 contains a discussion of international distribution challenges, including the role of wholesalers whose contributions are often underappreciated. It then focuses in detail on the challenges of distributing to the base or bottom of the pyramid, the world’s poorest consumers. Reaching this group requires altering traditional distribution models. Companies have to come up with novel strategies to reach this consumer group and expend effort to solve the “last-mile” problem and engage in substantial consumer education. The chapter closes with a look at omni-channels in the global marketplace.
