Marketing Channels 8th Edition by Bert Rosenbloom

Exercise 1

Wrigley is the world's leading manufacturer of chewing gum, producing literally millions of packages of gum every day. It is a large, financially strong company whose manufacturing technology for producing gum is state-of-the-art. It sells its products to millions of gum-chewing consumers all over the United States and many other countries around the world. Still, Wrigley has never attempted to sell its chewing gum directly to consumers, but instead uses a wide variety of intermediaries at the wholesale and retail levels.
Why do you suppose Wrigley has chosen to use intermediaries rather than sell direct to consumers? Explain the underlying economics of the company's policy.