12.4 Retailers As Channels of Distribution

What you’ll learn to do: describe types of retailers and explain how they are used as a channel of distribution

Retailing is important for marketing students to understand for two main reasons. First, most channel structures end with a retailer. While products may pass through a wholesaler or involve a broker or agent, they also include a retailer. Second, retail offers an immense number of job opportunities. Today in the Canada, there are 1,167,260 ^[1]  retail establishments that support 2 million jobs ^[2]. Retail also contributes $100 billion to the Canadian gross domestic product. ^[3].  Major retail employers are shown in the following graphic with a full report available from the Retail Council of Canada. ^[4]