In a short essay, differentiate between the basic marketing intermediaries.

These groups help the company to promote, sell, and distribute its goods and services to
final buyers. Resellers are distribution channel firms that help the company find customers or
make sales to them. Physical distribution firms help the company to stock and move goods from
their points of origin to their destinations. Marketing service agencies are the marketing research
firms, advertising agencies, media firms, and marketing consulting firms that help the company
target and promote its products to the right markets. Financial intermediaries include banks, credit
companies, insurance companies, and other businesses that help finance transactions or insure
against the risks associated with the buying and selling of goods.

It hardly ever happens that customers directly obtain from the corporate. In the vast majority of the cases,
there are numerous middle people who are available between the organization and the client. These
moderate facilitators are known as marketing intermediaries or middlemen. They are not only responsible
for taking a commission between the transactions but also for making the product easier for the customer
to access, they can also streamline a company's production process. The general understanding is that the
more intermediaries the process of reaching the product to the customer will be longer and will also add
to the cost of the product.

B ROKERS AND AGENTS, DISTRIBUTORS , RETAILERS, AND WHOLESALERS ARE COMMONLY FOUR TYPES OF MARKETING
INTERMEDIARIES .

To skip the middleman and serve directly to the end user is always tempting for any company,
particularly in today's era, where e-commerce is at its peak of success. Not only does this boost the
company's profit margins but it also offers consumers the best deals they could not have found when
approached through marketing intermediaries.

1. Brokers and Marketing Agents

Because of their laws both words are synonymous with each other. This is true, especially in the case of
real estate deals where both are identical to any customer. There might be many variations between them,
but as a whole, they 're both considered the same. Marketing typically intermediaries are permanent while
brokers are temporary.

Besides this significant difference, the function of both intermediaries is similar. Both are paid a fee for
each sale, and are not liable for the goods being sold. They’re just concerned about making the deal
smoother.

Brokers and brokers are also popular in the travel industry as well as in real estate, and are widely used in
international trade. When businesses are unable to directly approach consumers and need a particular
human contact to close the deal, then they approach agents or brokers.

2. Merchant Wholesalers and Resellers

Merchant wholesalers who are often commonly referred to as wholesalers buy goods in bulk form from
suppliers and then resell them, usually to retailers or other companies. Several bring a small variety of
different items, while others are specialized in a few items but have a broad selection of products. They
may run cash-and - carry stores, warehouses, postal orders or online sales, or they may simulate

Wholesalers are the intermediaries who buy a large volume of products from the manufacturer and then
resell it to other small businesses, usually retailers. Some wholesalers have several products to sell to
various retailers, while others are specialized in only one product or category.

The Wholesalers and resellers are further divided into 3 parts

Merchant wholesalers-These are manufacturers or employers who own and operate

independently. They own very little or no of the products. Merchant wholesalers are wholesalers
of two kinds, service restricted, and full-service wholesalers.
Full-service Merchant Wholesalers – Full service wholesalers are the ones who are preferred
when it comes to more substantial volumes. They provide a wide variety of services for their
customers, such as running warehouses, maintaining a large stock inventory, offering credit line
to various customers, as well as salespeople, and distributing products to clients.
Limited Service Retailer Wholesalers-These are the ones that give their vendors and their
customers very few services. These exist only to lower service prices. Many wholesalers in many
sectors have limited-service presence.

3. Distributors and Functional Wholesalers

Distributors also known as physical wholesalers do not purchase goods from the manufacturers. Instead,
they accelerate transactions between the manufacturer and the retailers or other firms. Like agents and
brokers, they can either be compensated by contract, or the producer can pay them in fees.

The distributors are chosen by the producer to supply their goods at various locations to the wholesalers
or resellers. Distributors involve themselves in many industries which span many geographic regions.
There are few services provided to wholesalers by distributors that are shipping, inventory managing,
expanding credit etc.

They work on common broker and agent projects, and are generally employed for a short period of time
or job. They get paid a fee from the seller for every sale. Sometimes they also demand transaction fees
from retailers as well.

4. Traditional and Online Retailers

Retailers are the intermediaries between wholesalers and clients. They buy the wholesaler various
products and sell them from one place to the ultimate customers in limited quantities.

Any e-commerce website not owned by the company which makes a product and then sells it to a
customer can also be called a retailer. But – with companies like Amazon producing their own goods and
selling them directly to consumers in addition to other companies ' products – the distinction between
manufacturers and retailers is becoming increasingly fuzzy.

i. Store retailers – Specialty stores which have several items under the same roof that have a
single product category under one roof. It is called a small product line. A few examples of
specialty stores are the florists, opticians.
 ii. Departmental stores – Offer a wide range of merchandise relative to other outlets.
Departmental stores can carry home furniture, clothes, or household goods, which are divided
into shops depending on the customer's gender or age.
iii. Supermarkets have large facilities with high sales rates and profit margins. They've got
everything for the average customer, including food , clothes, meat, baked goods, and
everything else that a customer wants every day. Some retailers also sell alcohol products but in
every country this is not permitted.
iv. Discount Store:- Another type of retailer associated with selling items on sale is the discount
store.

Marketing intermediaries can have certain drawbacks to handle such as increased expenses and rises
department but from an organizational point of view, having marketing intermediaries is very beneficial
since it is more feasible to handle a limited number of marketing intermediaries than to manage the entire
consumer base.