Place

Place refers to the location of your business and the accessibility of your products through retailers or via direct channels such as telephone sales and the Internet. If you limit access to your products to potential purchasers, you are 'shooting yourself in the foot'.

Business location is critical in the case of retail businesses and those businesses that rely on local or passing customers (such as accountants, solicitors, medical clinics and other professional services).

If location is important, you need to evaluate:

Passing pedestrian and traffic flow
Direct competition in the immediate area
Complementary business in the immediate area
A key function of the sales force is to get the retail trade 'on side'
Parking facilities
Rent costs
Location in relation to residential or commercial zones from which potential customers are drawn

Distribution of your product is crucial in the case of manufactured products that do not rely on local customers but have a much wider state or national distribution network.
In this case, distribution of the product is crucial. There are often many paths (i.e. channels), which a product can take in going from your shop to the customer. A channel "map" can be drawn in order to visualise this keeping in mind all the middlemen, agents, shops, stores, etc. along the way. Defining a channel strategy is not simply an arbitrary matter. Bear in mind that all middlemen along the way are, in essence, in partnership with you to sell something to the end-user. Therefore, your product and its other 3 P's must be such that various resellers in your channel have their needs (e.g. margin objectives, volumes) met.
At the risk of oversimplifying, a good practical way to determine, or at least analyze, appropriate channels for your product would be to start at the point of final purchase. Who is the final consumer or user of your product? Where does that person look when buying your type of product? If she buys this product from an office products retail store, then where does that retailer obtain his products... and so on. Once the various channels have been identified, it is easier to determine which ones make the most sense or which ones offer the path of least resistance.
In a broader context, 'place' can also relate to customer accessibility to you. In some cases, you need to question:

Can customers negotiate and complete business transactions by telephone or via the Internet?
Do customers have easy access to your sales personnel?
Can customers in remote locations transact business with you via authorised agents or distributors?

Distribution

This refers to the chain of intermediaries linking the producer to the end consumer such as distribution centres, agents, distributors, retailers and exporters.

Distribution in today's terms is closely linked with functions known as 'logistics' and 'supply chain management'.

Of all marketing decisions, those regarding distribution are arguably the most far-reaching. A company can easily change prices, advertising, sales promotions or even its product range but once a company sets up channels of distribution it will find changing them very difficult.

Decisions regarding distribution will hinge around, the product category, the amount of service customers need, the extent of availability appropriate, competitors strategies and cost effectiveness.

Distribution is often the neglected aspect of marketing.

In the case of fast moving consumer goods, mass distribution is one of the most crucial parts of the marketing mix. If the consumer cannot easily access your product they will buy a readily available alternative.

Money spent on advertising is wasted if the consumer does not have ready access to your product when he or she is 'in the market'.

If you limit access to your products, you are 'shooting yourself in the foot'

Distribution Channels

Distribution Channel	Examples	Benefits	Drawbacks
Direct to consumer	Tupperware	Product exclusivity	Limited consumer access
Direct to consumer via internet	Airlines, hotels, books, wine clubs	Avoids retail margins	Requires computer literacy
Manufacturer to retail chains	Grocery products	Central delivery and warehousing	Retail power reduces margins
Manufacturer to wholesale to retail	Stationery products	Share distribution costs with other manufacturers	Share priorities among other manufacturers
Manufacturer to agent to retail	Speciality products	Access to broader distribution with shared costs	Low priority for individual products
Manufacturer to dealer networks	Cars, computers, mobile phones.	High technical expertise	Highly dependent on relatively few.
Manufacturer to end business user	Office furniture	Eliminates the 'middle man'.	Limits reach and access to potential customers.

The Supply Chain

Supply chain management can provide benefits to retailers and consumers alike

Business location and distribution are closely linked with the relatively new - term supply chain management.

A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products and the distribution of these finished products to customers.

Supply chain management focuses on the production and distribution of goods from raw materials to finished products in the hands of consumers in the best time and cost efficient manner possible.

Traditionally, marketing, distribution, planning, manufacturing, and the purchasing functions along the supply chain operated independently.

These functions have their own objectives and are often conflicting.

Supply chain management is a means of making integration occur. In doing so, retailers', and through them consumers' needs can be more efficiently met with shorter more efficient lead times with benefits to retailers and consumers alike.

Shorter supply chains can also yield significant competitive advantages.

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