本文主要讲述营销渠道中的五个流程和相应流程中的中介：

This article mainly describes the five processes in the marketing channel and the intermediaries in the corresponding channels:

Another concept that is useful in studying the marketing relationship between and among firms is to look at marketing channels, which refer to “ a set of institutions necessary to transfer the title to goods and to move goods from the point of production and the point of consumption and, as such, which consists of all the institutions and all the marketing activities in the marketing process. The principle traditional institutions in the marketing channel are the manufacture, the wholesaler, and the retailer. These channel members work together in several different channel arrangements—ownership channel， negotiation channle, financing channel, promotions channel, and logistics channel—and we’ll look more closely at how manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers interact in these five channels.

在研究企业之间的营销关系时，另一个有用的概念是研究营销渠道，它指的是“一套必要的机构，用于转移商品所有权，并将商品从生产点和消费点转移出去，因此，它包括营销过程中的所有机构和所有营销活动。营销渠道中的主要传统机构是制造商、批发商和零售商。这些流程成员在几个不同的（所有权流程，谈判流程、融资流程、促销流程和物流流程）安排中协同工作，并且我们将更深入地研究制造商、批发商和零售商在这五个流程中如何互动。

The ownershp channel covers movement of the title to the goods, and the goods themselves might not be physically present or even exsit. If a goods is in great demand, such as a commissioned piece of art or a scarce new consumer product, one might have to buy it before it is produced. Sometimes, a product will not be made until there are sufficient financial commitments; this is often the case with new models of commercial airplanes. The party owning the good almost always has the right to trade or sell it and bears the risks and costs associated with having it in inventory. Also, while owning the good, one can use it as collateral for a loan, although this may place some restrictions on its use or movement.

所有权流程涵盖货物所有权的移动，货物本身可能没有以实物形式呈现，甚至不存在。如果一件商品的需求量很大，例如一件委托艺术品或一种稀缺的新消费品，人们可能必须在生产之前购买它。有时，产品直到有足够的资金承诺才会生产； 新型商用飞机经常出现这种情况。拥有商品的一方几乎总是有权交易或出售商品，并承担与库存相关的风险和成本。此外，在拥有商品的同时，人们可以将其作为贷款的抵押品，尽管这可能会对其使用或移动造成一些限制。

The negotiations channel is the one in which buy and sell agreements are reached. This could include transactions face-to-face or by telephone, e-mail, electronic data interchange, or almost any other form of communication. In many situations, no actual negotiations take place; the price for the product is stated, and one either buys at that price or does not. In some trades, auctions are used; in others, highly structured, organized trading takes place, such as markets for some commodities. One part of negotiations covers how activities in the other channels are to be handled. For example, each buying party will specify the point and time of delivery and the point and time of payment. Even packaging design may be negotiated. (An old Henry Ford story is that suppliers of some parts were directed to ship in wooden crates built of good lumber and to very exacting specifications. It turned out that the empty crates were then partially disassembled and became floorboards in Ford Model Ts).

谈判流程是达成买卖协议的流程。这可能包括面对面或通过电话、电子邮件、电子数据交换或几乎任何其他形式的通信进行的交易。在许多情况下，没有进行实际谈判；产品的价格是规定的，人们要么按这个价格购买，要么不购买。在一些交易中，使用拍卖；在另一些交易中，进行高度结构化、有组织的交易，例如某些商品的市场。谈判的一部分涉及如何处理其他流程的活动。例如，每个买方将指定交货点和时间以及付款点和时间。甚至包装设计也可以协商(亨利·福特（Henry Ford）的一个老故事是，一些零件的供应商被要求用优质木材和非常严格的规格制成的木箱装运。事实证明，这些空板条箱随后被部分拆解，成为福特Ts型汽车的地板。）

The financing channel handles payments for goods. More importantly, it handles the company’s credit. The multiple participants in the channel have different financing strenghts, and often one must help another to keep the entire channel alive. For example, a newly opened retailed store may have some of its goods placed on consignment, meaning that the wholesaler, not the store, owns them. Thie retailer will reimburse the wholesaler only for goods sold; the wholesaler bears nearly all the financial risks. Sometimes, in an effort to develop what it believes is a necessary new product line, a wholesaler will assist the manufacturer by putting up cash in advance along with an order. Alternatively, the wholesaler will place a large, guaranteed order, and the manufacturer can take that order to a bank and use it as a basis for receiving a loan.

融资流程处理商品付款。更重要的是，它处理公司的信用。流程中的多个参与者具有不同的融资实力，通常一方必须帮助另一方保持整个流程的活力。例如，一家新开的零售店部分商品可能是寄售的，这意味着批发商而非商店拥有这些商品。该零售商将仅将已售出的商品付款给经销商；批发商承担几乎所有的财务风险。有时，为了开发其认为必要的新产品线，批发商将通过订单预付款来帮助制造商。或者，批发商会下一个大的、有保证的订单，制造商可以将该订单带到银行并将其用作获得贷款的基础。

Credit is important to all parties in the channel, who frequently receive or extend it, and credit becomes an integral part of the negotiations. If bills are not paid when due or if credit is over-extended, collection becomes a financing channel function. Indeed, a lingering aftereffect of the 2007-2009 economic recession is that some large companies are taking longer to pay their bills. More specifically, some larger companies now pay their bill within 90days, as opposed to 30 to 60 days prior to the recession. While beneficial to the larger companies, these lengthened payment cycles negatively impact their suppliers.

信用对流程中的各方都很重要，他们经常收到或提供信用，信用成为谈判中不可或缺的一部分。如果账单到期未付或信用透支，催收就成为一种融资流程功能。事实上，2007—2009年经济衰退的一个挥之不去的后遗症是，一些大公司正在花费更长的时间来支付账单。更具体地说，一些大公司现在90天内付清账单，而不是衰退前的30到60天。虽然对大公司有利，但这些延长的付款周期对其供应商产生了负面影响。

The promotions channel is concerned with promoting a new or an existing product, and it can be related to the financing channel because monetary allowances are often part of the promotion effort. In addition, the promotions channel and logistics channel are linked in several ways. First, there may be special advertising materials, such as coupon books, floor advertising posters, or displays, which must be distributed with the promoted product. Second, some of the cartons or consumer packs may have special labeling, and their placement at retailers must coincide with other promotional efforts. Third, because logistics personnel handle order processing, they have instantaneous records of actual sales, which indicate the initial success of the promotional efforts.

促销流程与促销新产品或现有产品有关，它可能与融资流程有关，因为货币补贴通常是促销工作的一部分。此外，促销流程和物流流程以多种方式联系在一起。首先，可能有特殊的广告材料，如优惠券、地板广告海报或展示，必须与促销产品一起分发。 其次，一些纸箱或消费包装可能有特殊标签，它们在零售商处的放置必须与其他促销活动同时进行。第三，因为物流人员处理订单流程，他们有实际销售的即时记录，这表明促销工作的初步成功。

As mentioned previously, the logistics channel, its components, and its functioning are the main topics of this book. The most significant contribution that the logistics channel makes to the overall channel process is the sorting function, which bridges”the discrepency between the assortment of goods and services generated by the producer and the assortment demanded by the consumer. The sorting function has four steps, which are important to understanding the concept of goods flowing through the logistics channel:

如前所述，物流流程、其组成部分及其功能是本书的主要话题。物流流程对整个流程过程的最大贡献是分拣功能，它弥合了“生产者产生的商品和服务的分类与消费者需求的分类之间的差异”。分拣功能有四个步骤，对于理解货物流经物流通道的概念很重要：

• Sorting out is sorting a heterogeneous supply of products into stocks that are homogeneous.
• 分拣是将异质供应的产品分拣成同质的库存
• Accumulating is bringing together similar stocks from different sources.
• 积累是将不同来源的类似的库存汇集在一起。
• Allocating is breaking a homogeneous supply into smaller lots.
• 分配就是将同质供应物分成更小的批次。
• Assorting is building up assortments of goods for resale, usually to retail customers.
• 分类是建立商品分类以供转售，通常转售给零售客户。

These steps take place between the manufacturer and the consumer, which means that they are performed by the wholesaler, the retailer, or specialist intermediaries.

这些步骤发生在制造商和消费者之间，这意味着它们是由批发商、零售商或专业中介机构操作的。

In addition to the major actors or primary participants in a logistics channel, many less-well-known actors, called facilitators or channel intermediaries, play minor but essential roles. Intermediaries make the entire system function better and should only be used when they add value to a transcation. They spring up and flourish in areas where communications and other interactions between major parties are not well meshed. In international transcations, for example, translators may be an important intermediary. Intermediaries also fuction in areas needing orderly routines, such as order processing, and in searching, for example, when customers are looking for products or producers are looking for customers. Intermediaries fill niches, they are very well focused, and they serve as buffers between various channel members. Usually, they do not take an ownership position in the products or goods being handled.

除了物流流程的主要参与者或基本参与者之外，许多不太知名的参与者，称为促进者或流程中介，扮演着次要但必不可少的角色。中介使整个系统功能更好，只有在它们为事务增加价值时才应使用。它们在主要参与者之间的沟通和其他互动没有很好地结合的领域中兴起并蓬勃发展。例如，在国际交易中，翻译人员可能是重要的中间人。中介还在需要有常规的订单流程的领域发挥作用，例如订单处理，以及搜索，例如，例如，当客户在寻找产品或生产商在寻找客户时。中介机构填补了市场的空白，他们非常专注，并充当各种流程成员之间的缓冲。通常，他们对所处理的产品或货物不具有所有权。

The five channels discussed previously show where intermediaries function and fit. For example, in the ownership channel, a common intermediary is the bank or finance company, which may assume temporary or partial ownership of goods as part of an ongoing transcation. Often, this is a condition for the extension of credit. Banks routinely loan funds to all parties in a channel, making it possible for goods to be manufactured, marketed, and sold.

前面讨论的五个流程显示了中介机构的作用和适合之处。例如，在所有权流程中，一个共同的中介是银行或金融公司，作为正在进行的交易的一部分，它们可能临时或部分地拥有货物。通常，这是延长信贷期限的一个条件。银行通常通过一个流程向所有各方提供贷款，从而使商品的制造、营销和销售成为可能。

Brokers, who are associated with the negotiation channel, are independent contractors paid to arrange a particular transaction. A broker can be used by either a buyer( shipper/receiver) or seller (trucker). A broker can add value for a trucker in the sense that an individual trucker believes that his or her time is more profitable spent driving, rather than being on the phone or Internet trying to negotiate for the next load. In a similiar fashion, a broker adds value for a shipper/receiver because of the broker’s knowledge of potential transportation options.

经纪人是与谈判流程相关联的独立承包商，为安排特定交易而付费。经纪人可以由买方（发货人/收货人）或卖方（卡车司机）使用。经纪人可以为卡车司机增加价值，因为单个卡车司机认为他或她的时间花在驾驶上更有利可图，而不是在电话或互联网上试图协商下一个装载。以类似的方式，由于经纪人对潜在运输选择的了解，经纪人为发货人/收货人增加了价值。

Banks and finance companies are prominent intermediaries in the financing channel, and both parties supply the credit necessary for a deal to be finalized. For big-ticket items, such as ships or warehouses, the buyer almost always borrows money to finance part of the purchase. Sometimes insurance is also a requirement in the agreement, so insurance companies may also serve as intermediaries.

银行和财务公司是融资流程中的重要中介，双方提供交易完成所需的信贷。对于高价物品，例如船舶或仓库，买方几乎总是借钱为支付部分购买费用。有时，保险也是协议中的一项要求，因此保险公司也可以充当中介机构。

The promotions channel has intermediaries that aid with promotions, such as firms that design, build, and transport product exhibits for display at trade shows. Advertising agencies can handle the preparation and media placement of advertising materials, and firms often use public relations agencies to represent them to the new media. Some companies choose to outsource their personal selling functions by hiring an intermediary to provide them with a contract sale force. These promotion efforts handled by internediaries must be coordinated with the firm’s overall marketing communication activities.

促销流程有帮助促销的中介机构，如设计、制造和运输产品展品以在贸易展览会上展示的公司。广告公司可以处理广告材料的准备和媒体投放，公司经常使用公关公司代表他们向新媒体展示。一些公司选择通过雇佣中介为其提供合同销售队伍，将其推销人员职能外包。这些由中介机构处理的促销活动必须与公司的整体营销传播活动相协调。

The logistics channel has many intermediaries, and many are mentioned in this book. A commonly used intermediary is the freight forwader, whose fuction is to assemble small shipments into larger shipments and then tender them in truckload or rail carload quantities to truck lines ot to railroads. In international logistics, intermediaries abound, and more than a hundred different types could be listed, One example is cargo surveyors who specialize in coffee; these specialists examine and arbitrate claims invoving shipments of coffee beans.

物流流程有很多中介，本书中提到了很多。 一种常用的中介是货运代理，其功能是将小批货物组装成较大的货物，然后以铁路整车或整货车的数量向铁路运输线或卡车运输线投标。 在国际物流中，中间商比比皆是，可以列出一百多种，例如专门从事咖啡的货物检验员； 那里的专家审查和仲裁涉及咖啡豆运输的索赔。

This article comes from the Contemporary Logistics textbook written by Paul & Michael.