Green Forest Facial Tissue Distribution Strategy

Introduction

Green Forest Paper launched in 1990 its own line of eco-friendly tissue paper products. Now being acquired by Planet, Inc., the company reintroduced its improved line of tissue products which include the "Green Forests Facial Tissue" hoping to gain a substantial market share to trounce mainstream tissue products. For this to come into realization, a new marketing strategy is designed that redefines the particular product's channel distribution.

Distributing Green Forest Facial Tissue

Understanding channels is a very important aspect of marketing. By definition, a distribution channel pertains to the track a product goes trough as it move from the manufacturer to the consumer. Such track can either be direct, in which a manufacturer opt to hire its own sales person to sell the product, or indirect, in which a manufacturer put its product/s to independent distributors. The channel is further organized taking different channel members (Rolnicki, 1991). In the case of Green Forest Facial Tissues, the better way to distribute the product is through an indirect channel such as a grocery store for example; after all, its mainstream competitors are distributed that way. Using an indirect channel also allows the product to be available in a larger pool of consumers and can save the company from the hassle of employing sales persons whose reach are only limited. Before expounding on the proposed distribution channel of Green Forest Facial Tissue, it is first important to do a quick SWOT analysis of the product.

An obvious strength of the product is the growing demand for tissue products. In US, the tissue market has been growing 2.1 percent annually making it the largest consumer of tissue products in the world (Kalil, 2008). A new player in the market such as Green Forests would certainly help the whole tissue industry meet the growing demands but of course, the major weakness would be the high cost of advertising the new product. It should be noted that key players Georgia-Pacific and Kimberly-Clark (Pulp & Paper/Paperloop, 2003) rely heavily on advertising to introduce their products and not to mention, had already built consumer trust with years of being in the market. But Green Forests can certainly take advantage of the public's growing concern with regard to the conservation of the environment. Its eco-friendly facial tissues would surely attract "green" enthusiasts who often slam mainstream tissue marketers for wrecking havoc to the forest. Threats would be the emergence of same manufacturers who produce and sell the same eco-friendly product.

In taking consideration of the aforesaid SWOT, the product will then be distributed in an indirect channel with retailers as a channel member. The channel then would make use of a conventional track - from the manufacturer, to retailers, and to consumers. The reason