September 1999
The Director - Features
Remaking the Distribution Chain
Is there a future for the middleman?
The Internet provides the next step in the devolution of the middleman by giving customers what may be the ultimate step in "going direct." Each day, the list gets longer for online buying of airline tickets, homes, clothing, cars, insurance and just about any other product or service. The long-established firewall between the customer and the manufacturer is quickly disappearing.
Remaking the Distribution Chain—Is there a future for the middleman? explains how the Internet is empowering consumers and endangering the role of the middleman.
The article was written by John R. Graham, president of Graham Communications, a marketing services and sales consulting firm founded in 1976. Graham is the author of The New Magnet Marketing and 203 Ways to Be Supremely Successful In The New World Of Selling. Graham writes for a variety of publications and speaks on business, marketing and sales topics for company and association meetings.
