Students don’t often think about how Place and choice of distribution channel can differentiate a product or deliver value (often through convenience). And not too many of us think about vending machines as a channel of distribution for much more than snacks and soft drinks. That is why this example, where the Applestone Meat Co. offers self-serve vending machines stocked with vacuum-sealed packages of meat, including everything you might expect to buy at a high-end butcher shop: Porterhouse steaks, rack of lamb, sausages, and ground beef. You can read more, and perhaps clip an image to drop into your slides when you cover Place in Chapters, 10, 11 and 12.
As an aside, if you, like me, didn’t get the “Horn & Hardart” reference in the article’s title, check out this Wikipedia entry and learn a little history.
