Place Might Be the Most Neglected Part of Marketing

Most marketers can talk for hours about promotion. Far fewer get excited about distribution.

That is strange when you consider that customers cannot buy something they cannot access. “Place” is one of the traditional 4Ps, and I think digital marketing has made people forget just how significant it is. We often assume distribution is solved because something exists online.

Where a customer encounters a product, how quickly they can access it, which channels sell it, what times it is available and how much effort purchase requires can all materially affect demand.

I saw a tiny but useful example at Aberystwyth Town when the club shop opened on non-matchdays. More than £200 was generated from those openings. We had not invented a new product or created a revolutionary campaign. We had simply made existing products available at another time.

Digital ticketing was another distribution decision. Previously, a supporter might have needed to complete more of the transaction physically. Making tickets available digitally moved the product closer to the moment of decision.

Restaurants understand this naturally. Dine-in, takeaway, delivery, online booking and walk-in customers are all different ways of making the same core product accessible.

Gyms think about location, opening hours, class schedules and booking capacity.

Universities think about campuses, open days, digital experiences and recruitment events.

The principle stretches far beyond retail.

One of the questions I now like asking is:

Where would it be most convenient for the customer to buy or experience this?

Not where is easiest for the organisation.

Where is easiest for the customer?

Sometimes solving that question will generate more growth than another month of content.