Producers of goods and services have to be wary of one important aspect – their business success is dependent as much on consumer behavior as it is on customer satisfaction. This distinction between the customer and the consumer is an important variable that could have a bearing on business strategy in general, and marketing strategy, in particular. Business would have to satisfy both the customers, who would happen to be resellers of the goods and services of the company, as well as consumers, the end users. The point here is that ultimately, it is the business organization that is responsible for the way in which the product or service reaches the end consumer.
Traditionally, marketing has always been inclusive of intermediaries, the distribution channels of its products, which take the product to the consumer. Marketing channels deal with the consumers directly and have the opportunity to interact with them, know their likes and dislikes and stand a good chance of knowing the pulse of the consumer. Manufacturers, hence, should indulge in market research and develop the mechanisms to collect valuable market intelligence through the distribution channels, an important function in channel marketing.
However, with all systems up to gain information about consumption, there is no substitute for being in direct touch with the end consumer. While that is not always possible and marketing channels cannot be eliminated, business must make sure that they are not completely removed from its consumers. And that is what could be the prospects facing the publishing industry as they tend to become more and more dependent on their distribution channels.
Distribution channels, in the case of publishers, are the new age electronic gadgets, the ebook readers. The ebook reader has been around for a while now, but its dominance over publishing companies is only set to increase further, as tech companies are getting into the ebook business in droves. With Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader already present in the market, Apple iPad is all set to become the next big thing in the industry.
These ebook readers tend to remove the publishers further from the works that they own, with information about consumer trends and usage information becoming proprietary to ebook manufacturers. While the trend towards ebook is inevitable and digital information is a reality, the traditional publishing house has to gear up for the challenge that could be posed by the control that ebooks may soon come to exert over the book industry.
Passion for Writing and Business; Post-graduation in Management; Some useful managerial experience and International Exposure; Belief in Risk-taking and in the spirit of the entrepreneur. That's me. 
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