The Place of Industrial Marketing in Distribution

SHE PURPOSE of this paper is to show the important place in distribution occupied by that part of our total market which we call "Industrial." It is concerned with the sale, by producers and processors, of all products to be used, directly or indirectly, by other producers, institutions, and commercial organizations in the production and marketing of their own products or services, which may in turn be sold to industrial consumers, household consumers, or both. Industrial marketing is, therefore, the distribution of producers' and capital goods as distinguished from household consumers' goods. All manufactured products are intended either for industrial consumption or for home consumption, and the same is true in large measure for all agricultural products also. In other words, the destination of all goods produced is either the industrial user market or the home consumer market. The industrial user market absorbs products from every industrial group and products handled by every trade except the strictly retail. The latest information on the magnitude of this industrial market is contained in the publications of the 1935 Census of Business, particularly those on Distribution of Manufacturers' Sales and Wholesale Distribution, Vol. VII, "Credit Sales and Sales By Classes of Customers." Table I shows the f.o.b. factory sales made direct to industrial users by the 134,192 manufacturing plants reporting to the Census of Manufacturers, divided by industry groups. Of these plants, 42,65o sold $10,742,251,000 direct to industrial users in 1935. This table also shows the number of plants in each industry group making sales to industrial users as well as those selling exclusively to this primary channel of distribution. The importance of the industrial market to individual manufacturers is fur-