Rohit says it like it is. If you owned your own distribution would it be successful?
At some point just about every marketer is bound to look at something that Apple is doing and wish they could have done it for their own brands. There are a few other brands that have this universal admiration from marketers. Coca-Cola is the other notable example that comes to mind. Yet there is a temptation I have noticed to simplify the success of Apple to two things: innovative products and great marketing. I would love to believe this as much as any other marketer, but there is a crucial missing third element that most people never talk about which I think is actually the most important reason Apple has been so successful. They do one thing that almost none of their competitors in any market can do … they control distribution.
They have their own stores, their own sales people, and their own model for selling their products that cuts out any middleman or competitors completely. The fact that they control distribution offers many benefits:
- Consistency of messaging –
- Removes the competition at point of sale –
- Makes upselling easier –
- Retail environment reinforces the community –
- Pricing is controlled –
This is syndicated from Influential Marketing , and written by Rohit.