Glossary: Chapter 13



	Glossary Chapter 13: Wholesalers, Distributors and Physical Distribution Jump to a chapter's terms: 1 \| 2 \| 3 \| 4 \| 5 \| 6 \| 7 \| 8 \| 9 \| 10 \| 11 \| 12 \| 13 \| 14 \| 15 \| 16 \| 17 \| 18 \| 19 \| 20 \| 21 \| 22 \| 23 \| 24 Accessibility The ability to move goods over a specific route or network. p. 406 Agents Middlemen who represent buyers or sellers on a permanent basis. p. 383 Bonded storage A warehousing arrangement by which imported or taxable products are not released until the owners of the products have paid customs duties, taxes or other fees. p. 398 Brokers Middlemen employed temporarily by either buyers or sellers. p. 383 Capability The ability of a transport mode to provide the appropriate equipment and conditions for moving specific kinds of goods. p. 406 Cash and carry wholesalers Middlemen whose customers will pay cash and furnish transport. p. 386 Commission merchants Agents who receive goods on consignment from local sellers and negotiate sales in large central markets. p. 388 Containerisation The practice of consolidating many items into a single large container that is sealed at its point of origin and opened at its destination, greatly increasing efficiency and security in shipping. p. 398 Cost trade-offs The offsetting of higher costs in one area of the distribution system by lower costs in another area, to keep the total system cost effective. p. 396 Costs One consideration that helps determine transportation mode, involving comparison of alternative modes to determine whether the benefits of a more expensive mode are worth the higher costs. p. 403 Customer service In terms of physical distribution: availability, promptness and quality. p. 395 Distribution centre A large, centralised warehouse that receives goods from factories and suppliers, regroups them into orders and quickly ships them to customers. p. 398 Distributors Companies that buy and sell on their own account but tend to deal in the goods of only certain specified manufacturers. p. 383 Drop shippers Intermediaries who take title to goods and negotiate sales but never take actual possession of products. p. 386 Economic order quantity (EOQ) The order size that minimises the total cost of ordering and carrying inventory. p. 402 Facilitating agencies Organisations such as transport companies, insurance companies, advertising agencies, marketing research agencies and financial institutions that perform activities that enhance channel functions. p. 389 Field public warehouse A warehouse established by a public warehouse at the owner's inventory location. p. 398 Food brokers Intermediaries who sell food and general merchandise items to retailer owned and merchant wholesalers, grocery chains, industrial buyers and food processors. p. 389 Freight forwarders Specialised agencies that co-ordinate and combine shipments from several businesses into efficient lot sizes. p. 407 Full service wholesalers Middlemen who offer the widest possible range of wholesaling functions. p. 382 Functional middlemen Intermediaries who perform a limited number of marketing activities in exchange for a commission. p. 383 General merchandise wholesalers Middlemen who carry a wide product mix but offer limited depth within the product lines. p. 383 Intermodal transport The combination and co-ordination of two or more modes of transport. p. 406 Inventory management The development and maintenance of adequate assortments of products to meet customers' needs. p. 399 Limited line wholesalers Wholesalers that carry only a few product lines but offer an extensive assortment of products within those lines. p. 383 Limited service wholesalers Middlemen who provide only some marketing services and specialise in a few functions. p. 383 Mail order wholesalers Wholesalers that use catalogues instead of sales forces to sell products to retail, industrial and institutional buyers. p. 386 Manufacturers' agents Independent middlemen or distributors who represent two or more sellers and usually offer customers complete product lines. p. 386 Materials handling The physical handling of products. p. 397 Megacarriers Freight companies that provide several methods of shipment, such as rail, road and air service. p. 407 Merchant wholesalers Wholesalers that take title to goods and assume the risks associated with ownership. p. 382 Objective of physical distribution Decreasing costs while increasing customer service. p. 395 Order processing The receipt and transmission of sales order information. p. 396 Physical distribution A set of activities-consisting of order processing, materials handling, warehousing, inventory management and transportation-used in the movement of products from producers to consumers, or end users. p. 394 Private warehouse A warehouse operated by a company for shipping and storing its own products. p. 398 Public warehouses Storage facilities available for a fee. p. 390 Public warehouses Warehouses that rent storage space and related physical distribution facilities to other companies and sometimes provide distribution services such as receiving and unloading products, inspecting, re-shipping, filling orders, financing, displaying products and co-ordinating shipments. p. 398 Rack jobbers Speciality line wholesalers that own and maintain their own display racks in supermarkets and chemists. p. 383 Reliability The consistency of service provided. p. 406 Re-order point The inventory level that signals the need to order more inventory. p. 399 Safety stock Inventory needed to prevent stock-outs. p. 399 Sales branches Manufacturer owned middlemen selling products and providing support services to the manufacturer's salesforce, especially in locations where large customers are concentrated and demand is high. p. 389 Sales offices Manufacturer owned operations that provide support services normally associated with agents. p. 389 Security The measure of the physical condition of goods upon delivery. p. 406 Selling agents Agents who market either all of a specified product line or a manufacturer's entire output. p. 387 Speciality line wholesalers Middlemen who carry the narrowest range of products, usually a single product line or a few items within a product line. p. 383 Stock-outs Shortages of products resulting from a lack of products carried in inventory. p. 399 Traceability The relative ease with which a shipment can be located and transferred. p. 406 Trade markets Relatively permanent facilities that businesses can rent to exhibit products year round. p. 393 Trade shows Industry exhibitions that offer both selling and non-selling benefits. p. 392 Transit time The total time a carrier has possession of goods. p. 406 Transport modes Methods of moving goods; these include railways, motor vehicles, inland waterways, airways and pipelines. p. 403 Transportation The process of moving a product from where it is made to where it is purchased and used. p. 403 Truck wholesalers Limited service wholesalers that transport products directly to customers for inspection and selection. p. 386 Unit loading Grouping one or more boxes on a pallet or skid, permitting movement of efficient loads by mechanical means. p. 398 Warehousing The design and operation of facilities for storing and moving goods. p. 398 Wholesaler An individual or business engaged in facilitating and expediting exchanges that are primarily wholesale transactions. p. 380 Wholesaling Intermediaries' activity in the marketing channel between producers and business-to-business customers to facilitate the exchange-buying and selling-of goods. p. 379