This will also encourage the movement from the agent-publisher-distributor model of book publishing into a direct to consumer model that Amazon will spearhead.
William K. Walthers Inc., a big manufacturer and distributor of model railroads (www.walthers.com), sells direct online as well as through local hobby shops.
Consequently, our profit on a book sold to Amazon will be roughly $2 per book, while it's closer to $1 when sold through the older publisher-distributor-bookstore model.
He explained that the hotel's food revolution started in 2000 with a simple request of a small farm located in Boynton Beach, about 15 miles from the resort, "can you provide us with some tomatoes on a regular basis?" Obviously a tiny step but for a resort that followed the typical ask-your-distributor sourcing model, this request got the ball rolling.
Of course, making a Pi is nowhere near as complex as making a modern smartphone, but the balancing act here is keeping the price down without eroding the distributor's business model.
Giving in to it, the big three have spent the past two years trying to make their three-step distribution model — manufacturer to distributor to reseller to customer — work as efficiently as the one-step model that Dell uses.
Subsequently, the distributor scheme is modeled three-dimensionally integrated to the channels and collector.
Cabletron also was far behind its rivals in converting to a distributor-based sales model and away from a direct sales force.
It hopes to build a stronger foothold in the U.S. by partnering with Hobbico, one of the country's largest airplane model distributors.
I am not aware of any cases where character owners have gone after 3D model distributors, but it's fair to assume that if DC, Marvel and company see a serious downturn in figurine sales, they may just spin up the lawyering machines.
