Discuss the implications of dual/multiple distribution. If your chosen company sells through a major department store and its own catalog and then decides to have an online site or open its own store in a factory outlet, what will happen to channel relationships? To the final price offered to consumers? To promotional vehicles? Most e-marketers assume that a direct distribution channel, with no intermediaries, is the most efficient and least costly method for getting product offerings to customers.

However, if you decide on a different distribution channel, you will also have to identify warehouses, fulfillment services, transportation firms, packing companies, and many other facilitating agencies.

Does your company have the capabilities to handle this, or should your company invest in channel members to take over these tasks and functions?