Channels: two taxes, one map
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| channel/ˈtʃænl/ | the route a product takes from producer to customer |
The channel is a tax on the story
- The customer meets the product through a channel, and every channel takes its cut: retail takes 30% margin, direct takes logistics and delivery. Same meal, different economics, different promises that survive.
- Nimbus runs both: the shelf at £6.50 (retailer pays £4.55, CM £1.45) and the direct bundle at £5.80 effective (CM £2.70, minus £0.90 delivery = £1.80 net).
Four flows, one channel
- A channel moves product, information, promotion and money. Retail moves boxes and takes margin; direct moves data back and takes logistics.
- The direct route OWNS the customer data, the reorder relationship and the feedback loop — worth £0.90 a box of delivery cost.
Shelf 6.50, retailer margin 30%. What Nimbus receives and the CM per meal?
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Nimbus receives $6.50 \times 0.70 = £4.55$; CM $= 4.55 - 3.10 = £1.45$.
Direct: CM 2.70 before delivery of 0.90 a box (one box = 5 meals for one subscriber). Net per meal?
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Careful with units: the 0.90 is per BOX, so 0.18 a meal; net $= 2.70 - 0.18 = £2.52$. (The handout's 1.80 figure prices a different box - check the base!)
Match each flow to the channel that owns it best.
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Four flows, two channels, each tax and each gift named.
Margin maps, honest jobs
- One city, one retailer, 40 shelf slots: 40 × £1.45 = £58 a restock — plus 600 passer-by impressions a week. The shelf IS advertising.
- The subscription: 214 × 5 × £1.80 = £1,926 a month. Different jobs, different scales — price each job the channel does before cutting it for "low margin".
Which job is this channel doing?
Price each channel job - discovery, logistics, data, trust - before judging the channel on margin alone.
40 shelf slots, CM 1.45 a meal, restocked twice a month. Monthly retail contribution?
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$40 \times 1.45 \times 2 = £116$ - small money, but the shelf's advertising job is the other column.
214 subscribers x 5 meals x 1.80 net CM a meal. Monthly direct contribution?
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$214 \times 5 \times 1.80 = £1{,}926$ - and the data rides free.
The direct channel's data is worth nothing until analysed, so it does not belong in the channel comparison.
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The data IS the funnel's measurability - churn, reorder, menu feedback. A channel that returns no information keeps the campaign blind.
Conflict is designed, not stumbled into
- The retailer sees the £29 bundle undercutting its £6.50 shelf and threatens delisting. Three answers, honestly priced: differentiate the bundle (commitment + delivery = a different product), share via in-store QR with a finder's fee (£0.30/meal), or let them fight.
- The chosen answer: differentiate, and show the retailer the map. Channel conflict is a design decision with a bill.
The retailer threatens delisting over the 29 bundle. The designed answer is:
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Same-product price clashes end in margin wars; differentiated products share a shelf. The QR finder's fee is the backup peace.
QR finder's fee 0.30 a meal on subscription CM 2.70. The remaining direct CM per meal?
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$2.70 - 0.30 = £2.40$ before delivery - still richer than retail's 1.45, with the peace designed in.
Three channel slips
- Comparing channels on margin alone — each does different jobs.
- Letting direct undercut the shelf without a differentiation story.
- Forgetting the information flow — direct data is what makes the funnel measurable at all.
Recap
- Retail: £4.55 in, £1.45 CM, discovery. Direct: £2.70 less logistics, plus the data.
- Each channel job is priced before judged.
- Conflict is designed — with the map on the table.