Members of an enterprise's marketing channel can be eliminated or substituted as a different channel strategies are implemented, yet the five generic functions performed by channel members remain.

A Marketing Channel can be defined as a "set of organizations involved in the process of making a product available for use or consumption by the end user" (McColl - Kennedy, Kiel, Lusch, 1994). The marketing channel overcomes the major time, place and possession gaps that separate goods and services from those who would use them. Most producers use intermediaries, in order to provide their target markets, products and/or services they need through an effective …

…a wholesaler serve ?, Dan Holohan, Supply House Tiles, (nov 1999) p.59-60 Planned and evolutionary changes in distribution channels, Joseph P Guiltinan, Journal of Retailing, volume 50 number 2 summer 1974 Managing Electronic Channels: The Klm Cargo Cyberpets Case, Ellen Christiaanse, Robert-Jan Zimmerman, (1999) A Model of Direct and Intermediated Sales, Terrence Hendershott and Jie Zhang, University of California at Berkeley and University of Rochester, (2001) Dual Distribution Channels: The Competition between Rental Agencies and Dealers,Purohit, Devavrat (1997), Marketing Science 16, 228-245.