Direct Marketing Memorandum

This memo is with regard to the current problem as to the proposed shift in marketing strategy for company products. As you have all been made aware, a recommendation was recently submitted to the Vice President for Marketing with the suggestion being to establish a direct-marketing system for the company in order to increase sales and productivity levels.
Furthermore, the rationale behind this line of thinking was that a direct marketing model would better improve the company’s capability to reach out to customers directly, and being able to address their needs and wants quickly and efficiently. This however, is now being contested by some of the major retailer clients in our distribution network, especially since it is their perception that this will essentially lessen their own sales and marketing initiatives.
Not only will it mean reduced orders and client patronizing on their end, it will also effectively deprive them of profits and financial sustainability. It becomes therefore the position of this memo that a compromise must be arrived at, since the needs of both parties in this scenario must be taken into careful account. The new recommendation then is as follows: the establishment of a modified direct marketing system similar in nature to the model currently in use by Hewlett-Packard Corp.

Instead of accepting orders on the company site and depriving retailers of their major function, decentralization to a certain degree will be done by forwarding all orders or requests on the site to the retailer systems for processing. While this model reduces outright profits on the part of the company, as opposed to the original direct marketing one, it would still retain the favor of the retailers in our distribution network, which basically amount to roughly 60% of all sales operations. This is believed to be the best option for the company to take given the current circumstances.