Week 8 in Review

     Finally Spring Break is here!  All I have to do now is tell you all about how my week went.  On Tuesday we had another mind map gallery walk to do.  Instead of having a specific chapter assigned for the week, we had to encompass everything we have learned so far in marketing.  I thought this one was a bit easier as I didn't have to learn any new concepts!  In our last blog, we had to take a look at the Southern Culture Artisan Foods video and do some calculations for break even and margins.  I for whatever reason did not include this in my last blog and put it in my notebook instead.  Probably a force of habit but you won't see it happening again!  I'm also kind of glad the calculations weren't in my blog because I learned in class my calculations were very wrong.  But you live and learn and that is what we did.  We learned about how a wholesaler will buy products at a certain price and the manufacturer's margin will come from that while the wholesaler will sell the products to the retailer and collect a margin from that.  We didn't factor in a wholesaler when we did the math for Southern Culture Artisan Foods.  After Tuesday's class I feel I have a much stronger grasp on these concepts.

     On Thursday we started to talk about what we learned from chapters 14 and 21.  We were asked to watch the Shark Tank episode on the product fresh patch and we talked about the type of distribution channel the company had.  We learned from the book that there are four types of distribution channels.  The channels are direct, retailer, wholesaler, and agent/broker.  We also learned about channel intensity and how it relates to product type.  A specialty product is distributed on an exclusive channel.  A shopping product on a selective channel and a convenience product on an intensive channel.  When looking at Fresh Patch, it was determined the product went through a distribution channel.  Fresh Patch is a specialty product and customers can only get it from the company's website.  Once someone places an order for a Fresh Patch, it is shipped from the distribution plant straight to the customer's doorstep.   When a deal was made between Fresh Patch and the Sharks, one of the constituents was that Fresh Patch had to sold in retail stores.  This should help increase his market because the product will be seen by more people.  He also wants to build a distribution plant on the east coast using the Shark's money which would help keep the Fresh Patch fresh for east coast subscribers.  This will hopefully help his consumer retention rating because it is currently very low.  I can't wait for this break to be done to talk more about Fresh Patch and its new margins!