Week Eleven Reflection

This past week in HONB 200-02, we largely continued our discussions on FreshPatch and its many functioning aspects. On Tuesday, the main topic of conversation was centered around the company's distribution channel, as well as the components involved in a supply chain. A supply chain, as defined by the textbook in chapter 13, refers to all of the companies involved in the upstream and downstream flow of products, services, finance,s and information, from suppliers to the final consumer. In other words, the supply chain involves all of the company components that play a role in the creation and distribution of a product. A distribution channel, on the other hand, is stated to be a business structure of connected organizations that correlates all the way from the production process down through the movement of goods in the supply chain.

The class was broken down into groups, specifically our SMARTProject groups, and we each drew up a design of what we believed the distribution channel of FreshPatch resembled, based off of a typical retailer channel. It was then determined that Andrew Feld, creator and owner of FreshPatch, uses the method of dropshipping to reach his consumer base. This method involves the manufacturer of the said product, in this case the product being the hydroponically grown grass, shipping the created product directly to the customer that placed the order. With this distribution technique being used, Feld has repeatedly debated whether or not it would be financially beneficial for him to open an East Coast distribution center. We as a group decided among ourselves that this opening of such a distribution center would be more inefficient for his business than it would be productive, due to there just being one more step in the distribution process.

The class also thoroughly discussed the ability that larger companies have to constantly increase both their productive capacity and efficiency. The widely known and visited Wal-Mart was used as an example, as it was reported that the corporation recently exceeded 100 percent in terms of its productive efficiency. This impressive statistic is due heavily in part to its use of the concept of outsourcing. Outsourcing is defined as the manufacturer's use of an independent party to manage a large part of the company's logistics system, such as transportation, order processing, etc. This then allows the company utilizing such a method to be able to focus their attention and resources on the production of their products and other related tasks.

On Thursday, the class dove into the the topics surrounding distribution intensity and its three distinct levels. This was based off of a prior discussion that was held during which the class was given the task of discerning between product types. These types are specialty, unsought, convenience, and shopping. Specialty products tend to be made of what's considered to be higher quality, such as expensive cars and jewelry, while unsought products are those that customers are not especially excited to purchase, such as plumbing service. Convenience products are those that customers don't put much effort into searching for, but that are often conveniently there for the customer's purchase, such as water or a candy bar. Shopping products, on the other hand, are everyday items that many people own but that they must go out of their way to purchase, such a upgraded household technology.

These categories share a direct correlation to the levels of distribution intensity, which are intensive, selective, and exclusive. Intensive distribution refers to the highest level of effort put in by a manufacturer in order to ensure that their product is made available as often as possible for customers to purchase. Selective distribution is the filtering by a producer so that their product is available for purchase, but only in certain areas. Exclusive distribution, on the other hand, includes manufacturers only allowing their product to be sold and distributed by a select limited number of dealers, such that customers must go out of their way to buy it.