Page 393 - Foundations of Marketing

Marketing Channels and O B J E C T I V E S

Supply-Chain Management 1. Describe the foundations of

supply-chain management.
2. Explore the role and
significance of marketing
channels and supply
chains.

3. Identify the intensity of
market coverage.

4. Examine strategic issues
in marketing channels,
including leadership,
cooperation, and conflict.
© 24Novembers/Shutterstock.com 5. Examine physical

distribution as a part of
supply-chain management.
6. Explore legal issues in
channel management.

M A R K E T I N G I N S I G H T S

Let a Robot Recycle Your Phone

For decades, banks have used ATMs to let custom- and arranged for repair, resale, or recycling to keep
ers withdraw or deposit money. Now San Diego them out of landfills.
entrepreneur Mark Bowles has designed a robotic Today’s EcoATMs are equipped with cameras,
EcoATM to let customers withdraw cash when they device testers, and sophisticated software. When
deposit unwanted cell phones and music players. a customer “deposits” a phone or MP3 player, the
His invention provides an environmentally friendly EcoATM determines its usability and value. If the
channel for recycling outdated, broken, or unneeded customer agrees to the price offered, he or she must
gadgets. provide a driver’s license (for proof of identity and
Bowles’s marketing insight occurred when he age) and a fingerprint (to guard against fraud) before
realized how few options he had for disposing of his the EcoATM dispenses the cash. One-fourth of the
old cell phone after buying a new one. To test his phones are too old or damaged to be refurbished,
idea for gadget recycling, he assembled a kiosk with but EcoATM buys them at a low price to encourage
a touchscreen and stationed it inside a Nebraska recycling, and has reclaimable materials extracted.
mall. He offered free estimates of the value of old With hundreds of EcoATMs in 20 states, the company
phones, and paid cash on the spot. By the end of has already recycled more than 500,000 devices and
the first month, Bowles had purchased 2,300 phones aims to recycle millions more in the coming years.
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