Distribution

"A strategic alliance, sometimes called a strategic partnership, is a cooperative agreement between business firms. Strategic alliances can take the form of licensing or distribution agreements, joint ventures, research and development consortia, and partnerships. They may be between manufacturers, manufacturers and customers, manufacturers and suppliers, and manufacturers and channel intermediaries." (Lamb, H.  Fundamentals of Marketing 9th Edition 7-3a) Pumpkinettes will be sold in specialty stores, such as Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and Sprouts. You can also find these delicious treats in markets such as Albertsons and Smiths, but merchandised in the healthy, non GMO, non preserved, vegan friendly food aisle. We want to build a partner relationship with these markets and keep the distribution exclusive until we see a higher demand. According to The Fundamentals of Marketing, "Place, or distribution, strategies are concerned with making products available when and where customers want them." (Lamb, H.  Fundamentals of Marketing 9th Edition 2-9b) They will be packaged in bio degradable, economy friendly boxes. It all ties into the vegan life style, and decreases overhead cost on packaging. The Manufacturing companies can be domestic based in the Illinois area. We chose this geographic area because this is where most of the pumpkins are farmed and grown at. This will also decrease our overhead cost by a substantial amount, due to short distances with importing and exporting. "Increased fuel and transportation costs associated with long-distance shipping, coupled with falling United States energy costs, have given impetus to inshoring, returning production jobs to the United States." (Lamb, H.  Fundamentals of Marketing 9th Edition 5-1b). We can also create partnerships with the farmers by buying large amounts of pumpkin seeds from them. I'm sure there isn't a huge demand on such a product so they will be happy regardless to build a relationship with a company that can increase there sales. "A part of this P—place—is physical distribution, which involves all the business activities concerned with storing and transporting raw materials or finished products." (Lamb, H.  Fundamentals of Marketing 9th Edition 2-9b).