Heavy channel dependence has real advantages, distributors bring local relationships, credit management, and last-mile logistics a manufacturer would otherwise have to build itself, but it also means the manufacturer has little first-party data on who is buying its products and why. Master B2B’s research framed reducing channel dependence not as abandoning distributors but as building a direct relationship and data asset alongside them, so the manufacturer is not entirely reliant on channel partners to understand its own end market. The manufacturers most exposed to disruption tend to be the ones with no direct buyer relationship at all, since they have no fallback if a key distributor’s business changes.
Channel dependence
A manufacturer's reliance on distributors, dealers, or other intermediaries as its primary or only route to market, with limited or no direct relationship with the end buyer.
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The End of Channel Dependence