▷ What is an entre channel | Actualizado junio 2025

What is a distribution channel?

One of the most important classic decisions for educational centers that wish to maintain good communication with families and the environment is to choose the most appropriate channels for their objective and, of course, to establish a strategy to develop them effectively. Everything communicates and everything generates the image of the center, so we must not neglect any of them. With the advent of the Internet, the classic communication model has changed and it is important to keep in mind what aspects we should handle when planning communication actions in the school.
Communication channels are the medium through which the message is transmitted from the sender to the receiver. Circulars, Internet, telephone, e-mail, sms, radio, press, television… there are many communication channels that we can use. But, which one to choose?
Another classification or distinction between channels is whether they are unidirectional or bidirectional. It is important to keep this in mind because, since the emergence of social networks, our interlocutor will probably expect us to be able to respond or interact. It is important to bear in mind that bidirectionality should not be limited to the social networks. Think, for example, if when your center sends a communication by e-mail, it does so from a system e-mail that does not allow a response or how long it takes to receive a response or if the response is adequate… that is also bidirectionality.

Channels of distribution of a service

Historically, canals were of immense importance to commerce and the development, growth, and vitality of a civilization. In 1855, the Lehigh Canal carried more than 1.2 million tons of anthracite coal; in the 1930s, the company that built and operated it for more than a century pulled the plug. The few canals still in operation in our modern era are a fraction of the number that once drove and enabled economic growth, indeed were virtually a prerequisite for further urbanization and industrialization. Because the movement of bulk raw materials such as coal and minerals is difficult and marginally affordable without water transport. These raw materials drove industrial developments and new metallurgy resulting from the spiral of increasing mechanization during the 17th and 20th centuries, leading to new research disciplines, new industries and economies of scale, raising the standard of living of any industrialized society.

Distribution channels examples

In wholesaling, the entrepreneur does not come into direct contact with the end users of his products, but leaves this task to third parties. The wholesale trade sells to retailers, other wholesalers or manufacturers, but never to the end consumer.
In indirect distribution, intermediaries intervene, such as the aforementioned retailers and wholesalers, which increase the cost of the product. In this type of distribution, the producer is not the one who delivers the products to the final consumer. Let us take the example of a canning factory which, once produced, is transported by a logistics company and distributed to different supermarket chains.
In the short channel, there is only one intermediary between the producer and the final recipient. An example is distribution through retailers who buy, for example, household appliances or textiles directly from the factory, or the purchase of products that have not gone through wholesalers in a hypermarket.
A long channel involves many intermediaries such as wholesalers, stockists, distributors or retailers. It usually occurs in most consumer products, especially perishable products, such as fruit and vegetables, for example.

Direct distribution channel

The distribution channel is the path followed in the process of marketing a product from the manufacturer to the industrial user or end consumer. The distribution channel is the mechanism by which distribution, as an economic function, takes shape and adapts to the needs and characteristics of each economic sector.
A distribution channel is made up of the companies or individuals that facilitate the circulation of a manufactured product until it reaches the hands of the buyer or user. The starting point of the distribution channel is the producer. The final or destination point is the consumer. The set of persons or organizations between the producer and the end user are the intermediaries. Distribution channels may be direct, when the relationship is established without intermediaries between producer and consumer, or indirect, when there are intermediaries.
A distribution channel is the path followed in the process of marketing a product from the manufacturer to the industrial user or end consumer. It is defined [citation needed] as “the set of interdependent functions and organizations involved in the process of making a good or service available to its users or consumers”. In other words, the distribution channel is the mechanism by which distribution, as an economic function, takes shape and adapts to the needs and characteristics of each economic sector.