This example might be helpful when you discuss organizational buying or supply chain management.

You might find the concept resonates when you also provide a a “non-traditional” example.  Service and high tech firms also have to make channel decisions.  So why not show them an example that many can relate to — in the gaming arena.  That is why I point out this article on Zynga, which has distributed many of its popular games (Farmville is one of the best known) over Facebook and via smart phones. Now the company is “going direct” with its own website.  Read more at “Game Changer for Zynga:  No Facebook” (Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2012, non-subscribers may need to click here).

The growth in online retailing presents a very real threat to traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Traditional stores have some clear advantages including a physical presence that allows customers to touch/hold/see/try on something before they buy or to be able to get what they buy now. Multichannel retailers offer multiple ways for consumer to shop — for example a physical store and an online store. Unfortunately, most retailers that offer multichannel options do a poor job integrating those experiences. Mitch Joel’s post, “Endless Aisles” (Six Pixels of Separation – The Blog, February 9, 2012) and an article in USA Today “Touch-screens create online shopping experiences at stores,” (February 7, 2012) offer a starting point. The image at the right shows a Kohl’s in-store kiosk which connects to Kohls.com.  It might be fun to share these ideas in class and ask students how ideas like this might benefit brick-and-mortar stores.  You might ask them to suggest other multichannel opportunities.  We also posted this at Learn the 4 Ps.

The examples here might work well when you cover Place, retail, Price, or Promotion and want to provide an example of how a concept is adapted in international markets.

In “Big Brother is Watching You Shop” (Bloomberg Businessweek, December 15, 2011), you can read about retailers using in-store video cameras and tracking your cell phone to better understand how you move through a retail store.  Analyzing video from a Miami store allowed Montblanc managers to more strategically locate merchandising, signage, and salespeople.  The result — a 20% bump in sales.  Other retailers follow customers’ cell phone signals to track and map movement through stores.  This of course is raising privacy concerns.

These two stories can be useful examples for marketing research (where we cover dashboards and marketing models), retailing, and in discussions of privacy.  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

The video below provides a short (3:20) overview and demonstration of Kiva’s robots in action.  Sorry about the :30 commercial up-front.  An accompanying article “Robot workers take over warehouses,” (CNN Money, November 9, 2011) addresses Kiva’s roots and start-up challenges.  The article might be more useful background material or it could be assigned if you emphasize entrepreneurship in your marketing instruction.  The video is a good fit when you cover physical distribution.

This provides examples of entrepreneurship, franchising, sustainability, and international (developing) markets.

This article provides examples you might find useful when you cover price, competition, marketing strategy planning, new product development or retailing.