Türk bilgisayar sektörünün dağıtım kanalları yapısının incelenmesi

Abstract

ÖZET Dağıtım, ürün ve hizmetlerin üreticiden son kullanıcıya kadar akışına yön veren bir pazarlama fonksiyonudur. Dağıtım kanalı ise bu fonksiyonun gerçekleştirildiği süreç içindeki üretici, aracılar ve tüketicinin oluşturduğu yol olmaktadır. Başka bir deyişle, üreticiden ara kullanıcı veya tüketiciye uzanan özel veya tüzel pazarlama kişi ve kuruluşlarıdır denebilir. İki tip kanal türü vardır. Bunlar geleneksel ve bütünleşmiş kanal yapılandır. Bütünleşmiş kanallar da kendi aralarında yatay ve dikey bütünleşmiş kanallar olarak ayrılarlar. Bunların birbirinden farkı geleneksel de ticari ilişkilerin süreksiz, geçici olması birbirlerini yatay ve dikey anlamda etkileyemedikleri bir kanal yapısı iken, bütünleşmiş kanal yapısnı da ise bir kanal üyesinin ilişkide olduğu diğer kanal üyelerini şu veya bu ölçüde etkilemek üzere başvurduğu değişik stratejiler veya anlaşmalardır. Yatay bütünleşmiş kanallarda aynı kanal içersinde aynı seviyede bulunan üyelerin oluşturduğu bir yapıdır. Örneğin Arçelik bayileri arasında böyle bir ilişki vardır. Dikey bütünleşme ise üretim ve dağıtım süreci içinde belli bir kanal düzeyindeki üyenin faaliyetlerine kendinden önce veya sonra gelen faaliyetleri de eklemesi veya onlara kendi koşullarım empoze ya da sözleşmeler yolu ile yönetim ve/veya denetim altına almış olması halidir. HP firmasının kanal yapısı buna çok güzel bir örnektir. Başta HP kanal lideridir. Onu kendine bağlı toptancılar ve onların altındaki binlerce bayi izlemektedir. Dağıtım, pazarlama faaliyetleri içinde önemli bir konuma sahiptir. Kalitesi, fiyatı ve tanıtımı yeteri kadar iyi olsa da iyi bir dağıtım stratejisi belirlenmemiş ürünün iyi satış yapması beklenemez. Bir firma ürünlerini direk mi dağıtacak, yoksa bir kanal mı kuracak, buna karar vermelidir. Bunun için; -Kanal kurma ihtiyacının ortaya çıkması -Dağıtım hedeflerinin belirlenmesi -Dağıtım görevlerinin belirlenmesi -Alternatif kanal geliştirilmesi VII-Önemli değişkenlerin değerlendirilmesi(ürün, firma mali yapısı, pazar, rekabet durumu, diğer çevresel faktörler) -En etkin kanal yapısının seçimi -Üyelerin seçimi. Aracı seçerken tecrübesi, teknik bilgisi, mali yapısı, pazardaki durumu, sahip olduğu müşterilerin büyüklüğü ve sayısı, kuruluş yeri va düzeni gibi kriterler değerlendirilir. Kanal yapısını belirlerken bu süreçten geçecek firma sonuçta uygulamayı gerçekleştirecektir. Burada kanalın yönetilmesi hususu gündeme gelmektedir. Kanalda ortaya çıkacak uyuşmazlıklar giderilmeli, üyeler motive edilmeli, her türlü promosyon desteği, uygun fiyat, kaliteli ürün, eğitim gibi destekler verilmelidir. Aracı kullanmanın aşağıdaki gibi faydalan vardır: -Doğrudan dağıtımda daha çok kişiye ulaşmak oldukça maliyetli bir iştir. Bu maliyeti aracı kullanarak ortadan kaldırabiliriz. -Daha çok kişiye ulaşmak doğrudan dağıtımda verimi düşürücü bir işken, aracılar sayesinde bundan da kurtulunup, etkin bir dağıtım gerçekleştirilir. -İşe uygun aracılarla çalışıp onların tecrübesinden yararlanmak firmanın güvenilirliğini arttırır. -Aracılar üretici, tüketici arasındaki mesafeyi kısaltarak işyükünü de azamtırlar. -Sektörün pahalı olan işgücü aracılar sayesinde minimize edilebilir. -Mali yükler minimize edildiğinden risk te minimize edilmektedir. Türk bilgisayar sektörü dağıtım kanalı önemini kavramış ancak bunu uygulamaya genel olarak tam geçirebilmiş değildir. Türkiye'nin ilk on firmasının üç büyük kuruluşunda - KoçUnisys, NCR, Nixdorf- oldukça zayıf kanal yapısı vardır. Ancak bunu giderme çabası içindedirler. NCR 1997'de satışlarının tamamına yakınını kanallar aracılığı ile gerçekleştirmeyi hedeflemiştir. IBM%90 HP % 100, Digital %90, Arena toptancı firma olması sebebiyle %100 oranında satışlarını kanallar aracılığı ile gerçekleştirmişlerdir. Tüm bu firmalar mevcut yapılan içindeki üyelere uygun fiyat ve vmkar marjı, eğitim, promosyonda, yönetim konularında destek vermektedirler. Herbirinin kendi yapısına göre hizmetin kalitesini arttırıcı standartları mevcuttur. Bu standartlar logo yazılımandan, sözleşmelere, hizmet verme şekline, kotalara, teknik destek şartlarına kadar çeşitli kalitatif ve kantitif özelliklerdir. Tüm bu firmalar aracı seçerken aracının mali yapısı, teknik ve satış tecrübesi, çalıştırdığı eleman sayısı ve özellikle bu sektöre ait bir konu olan ürün ve hizmete katma değer ekleyebilme durumu, güvenilirliği, pazar payı va yapısı gibi kriterleri değerlendirmektedirler. Yine bu firmaların amacı en fazla tüketiciye en az maliyet ve riskle ulaşmak, tüketicilerin ihtiyaçlarına cevap vererek tatmin etmek ve bu yolla pazar paylarını büyütüp bundan fayda sağlamaktır. Bunun için hepsi dağıtım kanalları ile ilgili ciddi stratejiler, plan va programlar geliştirmektedirler. K

SUMMARY Distribution, as a function is a major part of the marketing discipline, that facilitates the flow of both the goods and services to the end user. Distribution channel is set of independent organizations, involved in the process of making o product or service available for use or consumption by the consumer or industrial user. Distribution, as a major component, plays an important role in marketing process. No matter how successfully and efficiently the quality, price and the promotion of a product are set, a poorly tailored and managed distribution strategy would harm the actual sale of product. The firm should determine the best strategy, evaluating the compromises between direct selling and channel establishment. Doing so, the criterion such as the organisational structure of the firm, target market, sectoral trends, and the quality of goods are of great importance to be considered. Channel, on the other hand, is the organised structure consisting the manufacturer (producer), middlemen, and the consumer (end-user). There are a lot of distribution channel functions. These are; information, promotion, contact, matching, negotiation, physical distribution, financing and risk taking. -Information; gathering and distributing marketing research and intelligence information about middlemen, enduser and forces in the marketing environment needed for planning and aiding exchange. -Promotion; developing and spreading persuasive communications about an offer. -Contact; finding and communicating with prospective buyers. -Matching; shaping and fitting the offer to the buyer's needs, including such activities as manufacturing, grading, assembling, and packaging. -Negotiation; reaching an agreement on price and other terms of the offer so that ownership or possession can be transferred. -Physical distribution; transporting and storing goods. -Financing; acquiring and using funds to cover the costs of the channel work. X-Risk Taking; assuming the risks of carrying out the channel work Distribution channels can be described by the number of channel levels. There are two levels of channel in distribution. One of them is direct, other is indirect marketing channel. Direct marketing channel has no intermediary levels. In direct marketing channel, firms sell products directly to consumer. For example Migros use direct marketing channel. Where as Arçelik, on the other hand, sells indirect through middlemen. Distribution channels have two systems. One of them conventional, the other integrated.. Conventional distribution has lacked strong leadership and has been troubled by damaging conflict and poor performance. It consists of one or more independent producers, wholesalers, and retailers. Integration system has two type of subsystem, which Horizontal and Vertical are to state.Integrated marketing system consists of producers, wholesalers, and retailers acting as a unified system. Horizontal marketing system is a channel arrangement in which two or more companies at are level join together to follow a new marketing opportunity. For example, IBM's dealers are making horizontal integration. Vertical Marketing System (VMS) can be dominated by the producer, wholesaler, or retailer. VMS has come to control channel behavior and manage channel conflict. For example IBM is a channel leader and has got a lot of wholesalers, retailers and IBM has got the over those in coordinating, managing all of them. There are three types of VMSs. Wholesaler Chains are systems, in which wholesalers organize voluntary chains of independent retailers in order to help them compete with large chain organizations. The wholesaler develops programs and plans for education of middlemen, providing them with financial support, technical support, promotional support and management support like channel leaders. Retailer Cooperatives are the systems, in which retailers organize a new, jointly-owned business to carry on wholesaling and possibly production. Members buy most of their goods through the retailer co-op and plan their adrvertising jointly. In Franchise organization, a channel member called a `Franchiser` links several stages in the production-distribution process. XIIn designing marketing channels, manufacturers struggle between what is ideal and practical. A new firm usually starts by selling in a limited market area. Because it has limited capital, it typically uses only few wholesalers, some existing retailers, few forwarding companies, and few warehouses. If the new firm is successful, it might branch out to new markets. Again, the manufacturer will tend to work through the existing middlemen, although this strategy might mean using different types of marketing channels in different areas. In smaller markets, the firm might sell directly to retailers whereas, in larger markets, it might sell through distributors. Distribution channel decisions that face the firms are very complex and important. When designing a channel system, six major constraints and processes are to be considered; - Need of forming a channel, - defining distribution goals, - defining distribution tasks, - developing alternatives, - utilizing important variables, - choosing the most effective channel, - choosing most suitable middlemen, Designing channel system requires analyzing consumer services needs, setting the channel objectives, goals and constrains, identifying the major channel alternatives, and evaluating them. On the other hand the marketing behavior, the firm, the financial position, the market share, general market position, the product, competitors position and the environmental factors should be analysed. Firms need to form a in order to introduce a new product, to a new market or the firm may happen to be new. xnThen, distribution goals must be defined. These goals can be changed depending on various situations. Products, firm's structure, market structure, competitive environment, dealers structure and environmental variables may affect distribution goals. Environmental factors such as economic conditions and legal constraints affect channel design decisions. For example, in a depressed economy, producers want to distribute their goods in the most economic way, using shorter channels and dropping unnecessary services that determines the price of the goods Firms should generate some suitable alternatives informing channels, and than must choose the optimum one among these alternatives. A firm should identify the types of middlemen available to carry on its channel function. The following channel alternatives might emerge from management discussions; -Company salesforce: Expand the company's direct salesforce. Assign salespeople to territories and have them contact all prospects in the area, or develop separate company salesforces for different industries. -Manufacturer's agency: Hire manufacturer's agencies-independent firms whose salesforces handle related products from many companies- in different regions or industries to sell the new test equipment. -Industrial distributors: Find distributors in different regions or industries who will buy and carry the new line. Give them exclusive distribution, good margins, product training, and promotional support. On the other hand, there are a lot of type of channel chains: Merchant Wholesalers (Industrial distributors, cash and carry wholesalers, truck wholesalers, drop shippers, rack jobbers, Producers' cooperatives, Mail order wholesalers, brokers and agents, sales branches and offices, purchasing offices, corporate chain, voluntary Chain and retailer Cooperative, Consumer Cooperative, Franchise organization, Merchandising Conglomerate etc....) xmIn order to make best selection firms must evaluate criterion such as the Middleman's financial position, location and quality of shop, middlemen's prosconsumer situation, technical and sales experience. Using middlemen in business contributes the following benefits: 1- Applying direct marketing tactics to reach more people often increases costs. However, the costs could be kept under control if middlemen are used to reach out larger target. 2- Reaching out more people through direct marketing, brings down the efficiency of the company. Taking advantage of middlemen could avoid this. 3- Cooperating with the appropriate middlemen equipped with the necessary experience in the field, increases the reliability of the company. 4- Middlemen decrease the gap between the producer and the consumer. Hence, the workload for the company is decreased. Choosing a middleman, the company must take into consideration his/her experience in the field, the value added to the company's business, financial structure and position in the market and reliability. Once the middleman is selected, a reasonable pricing and good services must be offered to the company and the company must provide the middleman with the necessary infrastructure for him/her to work with. A complete training, support for promotional activities and similar motivating activities, must be offered. Channel leaders have to meet the middlemen needs. They must give a high quality product with suitable price and profit margin must support for all promotion activities, education for product or for service. Once selected, middlemen must be continuously motivated to do their best. The company must sell not only through the middlemen, but to them. Most producers see the problem as finding ways to acquire middlemen's cooperation.. They offer such positive motivators as higher margins, special deals, premiums, cooperative advertising allowances, display allowances, and sales contests. At times they will use negative motivators such as threatening to reduce margins, to slow down delivery, or to end the relationship altogether. A XTVproducer using this approach usually has not done a good job of studying the needs, problems, strengths, and weaknesses of its distributors. Throughout this work, IT sector in Turkey is analysed in terms of distribution channels. Computer is very important product for firms and consumers. It does not only help solving complex problems, but also yields to profit and continuous growth for most companies. This research analyses the approaches of seven top ten IT firms towards channel with respect to their market share in Turkey. According to Interpro's research results, these ten firms are ranked as follows. IBM with % 14.21 market share, KoçUnisys with %7.84 market share, HP with %6.71 market share, NCR with %5.14 market share, Arena with %3.81 market share, Digital with %3.10 market share, Siemens Nixdorf with %2.88 market share. %52.25 of the total IT investment in Turkey is realized by finance sector, followed by the manufacturing sector, that contributes to %1 1.43 whereas government with %7.97, wholesaler and retailer with %6.34, transport with %4.83, service with %2.46, built with %2.17 and others with %12.55 share in total. İstanbul, Ankara, Izmir are the region that constitute the target market for IT Sector. Although the relative importance of distribution channels are of no question, these firm are observed to realize their sales directly. Turkey, has selected importing the technology, rather than creating and manufacturing it, due to the macro strategies set by political groups. In the short term, the technological gap is expected to enlarge on hardware production site, where as, on the other hand, a proper strategy that is set to enhance the software development, would load to the exportation of the creative work through channels.Therefore, these distinctive approaches toward hardware and software should be carefully considered, in order to develop strategies for distribution channels. This information is very important for strategic plan. When the firms develop the strategy of distribution channel, they must be carefull these information. XVAlthough the importance of Distribution Channels is comprehended, it is not well established as a marketing tool at the big corporations in the Turkish Computer Industry. Three corporations, Koç-Unisys, NCR and Simens-Nixdorf, out of top ten display rather weak channel structures. HP generates 100% of its sales through Distribution Channels. In this sense it is considered the most successful corporation for using Distribution Channels. On the other hand, IBM generates 90% of its sales, and Digital generates about 80% of its sales through Distribution Channels. Arena is a big wholesale companies. They generate 100% of their sales through retail companies. All of the corporations consider certain criteria such as financial structure, experience, trustworthiness and bringing additional value to corporation when selecting their middlemen. The corporations provide training, support for advertisement, lower price and good profit margins to their existing middlemen. Each and every middleman complies with the standards set by the Channel Administrator. The standards can be applicable to parameters such as the pricing strategies, contracts, services, logo type, campaigns. In fact, all the corporations aim to reach as many consumers as possible with the lowest cost, meet and satisfy the consumer needs and increase their market share. Therefore, corporations keep on working to improve Distribution Channels and try to achieve their objectives through. XVI