To correctly identify opportunities and threats to their product, marketing managers need to understand the marketing environment in which their products operate.

Choose a product or service and determine how to make it available to the end user. Using your textbook and the articles from the databases in the AIU library, develop a distribution system for the product or service that you have chosen.

Research

Give an overview of the following distribution channels:

Channel levels: Direct versus indirect distribution

Channel organizations: Conventional, vertical, horizontal, and multichannel marketing systems

Analyze your target market's needs, and explain what you know about your target market and what it wants from a channel of distribution.

Determine which of the following channel members you will use, and explain why:

Indirect: Retailer, wholesaler, dealer, manufacturer's rep, and so forth

Direct: Catalog, telephone, sales force, and so forth

Discuss how many channel members you will use (intensive distribution, exclusive distribution, or selective distribution), and explain why.
Recommend a channel organization (conventional, vertical, horizontal, or multichannel marketing system), and explain why.

Your report must include a reference list. All research should be cited in the body of the paper. In-text citations and corresponding references should be included in your paper. For more information on APA style, please visit the APA lab. The paper should be written in third person, which means that pronouns like "I", "we", and "you" are not appropriate. The use of direct quotes is strongly discouraged.

Your assignment should contain a cover page, an abstract page, and a reference page in addition to the body. The body of the paper should be 2-3 pages in length, starting with a brief 1-paragraph introduction and ending with a short conclusion. The entire submission will be 5-6 pages in length.