Intermediary Customer Purchasing from the Product Producer
Obtain Steps: The Obtain steps include all activities preceding the selling of the product. These activities include the costs of identifying potential suppliers and stocking the product.
B.
Resources: Reduce resources required for the use of the product
1. Money – Reduce the money the customer uses with the product
b. Reduce the customer's spending on People, Purchases or Capital costs the customer uses with the product itself
Purchase costs used with the product itself
| No. | SIC | Year | Note |
| 1 | 3571 | 1994 | Computer manufacturers began selling to the largest dealers direct, thus further taking away sales from distributors. |
| 2 | 3600 | 1986 | Tractor trailers and 40-ft long shipping containers have to be unloaded at airports, seaports so packages can be inspected. Bechtel put together an X-ray system so sensitive, it can peer into a truckload of goods and spot a single pistol – saves days. |
| 3 | 5461 | 1989 | Quality is controlled through computerization: Tracks things like the number of cookies and muffins baked each hour; projects how much should be baked during the next hour. Using this system, franchise sales surged 17%. |
| 4 | 5712 | 2002 | Furniture.com, an old failure during the dot-com bubble, has announced plans to reintroduce its site as an online storefront for well-established furniture stores. Levitz Furniture and Seaman Furniture have both signed up. |
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