39 Examples of Distribution Strategy

John Spacey, June 13, 2023

Distribution strategy is a plan to reach customers to sell to them and to deliver your products and services. This is an element of marketing strategy that also has the operational and logistics component of getting your products to customers.

Channels

A plan to reach customers through various distribution channels. This is often a hybrid strategy whereby you use multiple channels.

Retail	Ecommerce
Digital platforms	Wholesale
Resellers	Direct sales
Personal sales	Sales partners
Wholesalers	Distributors
Importers	More ...

Channel Strategy

Your overall plan to use channels to achieve objectives.

Target markets	Channel pricing
Preventing channel conflict	Managing channel partners
Channel coverage	Channel relationships
Channel management	Channel integration
Marketing support for channels

Channel coverage is the extent of distribution in a channel.

Channel conflict is where channels start competing with each other in some negative way. For example, an ecommerce partner who undercuts your retail promotions by aggressively discounting and advertising.

Market Coverage

The level of distribution for each product or service.

Intensive distribution - making products available in as many places as possible	Selective distribution - making products available in select channels in order to defend your brand and provide a specific customer experience
Exclusive distribution - making the product or service available in one place for an area	Multi-channel distribution - using multiple channels such as a brand that sells only from its own stores, website and app
Direct distribution - distributing without intermediaries in order to control the customer experience	Indirect distribution - distributing completely through intermediaries in order to achieve sales without major investments

Distribution Strategy

Other parts of your distribution strategy beyond channels and coverage.

Logistics and transportation	Delivery
Exports and customs	Geographical channel coverage
Reverse logistics such as returns	Customer service and support
Regulatory compliance such as labeling requirements in other countries	Adapting distribution for different cultures
Competitive positioning in each channel and market	Inventory management such as avoiding stockouts in a channel
Measuring performance of partners	Managing partners
Measuring overall distribution with KPIs