Is exclusivity more or less attractive to wholesalers, retailers and other channel members?

Discussion: In my opinion there is not a straight answer to this question. There are some responsibilities that the channel members have to share if they want to have exclusive right to a product. For example a wholesaler or a retailer decided to become an exclusive for a certain product in a company, say for example a retailer want to be the exclusive distributor for Bridgestone golf balls in India. Bridgestone have its own policies of dealing with their customer’s inquiries and claims. The Indian retailer might have to provide certain services on the customer’s and Bridgestone’s demand. The retailer might have to deal with warranty claims, golf related information to the customers to increase the sales of the golf balls or they might be asked by Bridgestone that they have to remove golf wear that they are already selling for another company and display Bridgestone golf wear. These are the factors that will highly influence the decision made by the channel members once faced with the decision to exclusivity. It then depends on the resources that the channel members can dedicate to resolve the stated issues. If they have these resources available, they might decide in favor of exclusive rights to Bridgestone golf balls. If they think that the investment on these resources in not beneficial in terms of their revenue, they might decide against it.

In conclusion I would like to stress that exclusivity is a broader concept influenced by many factors. A company has to look at their organizational structure and the distribution of different resources and then make decisions related to exclusivity.