There's a new hoverboard craze taking over America So-called hoverboards are going mainstream. The "self-balancing scooters" will go on sale at Wal-Mart starting around November 1, according to Sapna Maheshwari at Buzzfeed. The electric scooters have been described as a "hands-free Executives at Wal-Mart anticipate this will be the hot newThe hoverboards will only be for sale on the "We’ve bought deep in this item because our buyers expect it to be a hot holiday gift, possibly as hot as the Razor Scooter Another picture of our #backtothefuture shoot using our new boards from @personalscooterz. If you want your own board go to the link in my bio and use the promo code: "annalexie" for a discount! A photo posted by 🐬 Lexus C 😋💗 (@lexiegracelove) on Sep 20, 2015 at 10:21am PDT on Sep 20, 2015 at 10:21am PDT A variety of celebrities have been seen riding hoverboards in Rapper Wiz Khalifa was recently arrested after riding one at the Los Angeles airport. Sin

Justin Bieber has also been spotted zipping around on one. Certified Dealer: 12 Month Warranty, Repair Service, Custom Request. #FREESHIPPING #GoGoBoard #GOiNNOVA this is the GOGO 6. 3 models GOGO 6,GOGO 8, GOGO 10 | Tag #SmartBoard #SelfBalanceboard #phunkieduck #iohawk #eboard #erover #hoverboard #halloween #floater #picoftheday #pickoftheday #sports #funny #board #skate #roller Get it First! A photo posted by Smart Online Shopping (@goinnova) on Sep 21, 2015 at 10:14pm PDT on Sep 21, 2015 at 10:14pm PDT Hoverboards for sale on Amazon range from NOW WATCH: Lexus just revealed exactly how they made the hoverboard everyone is talking about The IGNITION 2016 speaker lineup is amazing! Hear from Tencent, Twitch, AOL, Airbnb, WeWork, AT&T, Time Warner, Bleacher Report, and many more. Check out the agenda now >> Read Business Insider On The Go Available for iPhone, iPad, and Android See All Jobs » Thanks to our partners on December 28, 2015 at 10:10 AM, updated

CLEVELAND, Ohio – If you missed those hot, weekend-after-Christmas sales, don't worry. Big retailers such as Best Buy, Home Depot, Target and Walmart, still want to move stock, so bargains will continue throughout this week – and maybe longer. Jesse Tron, consumer and retail spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers, said January and February have grown in importance for retailers over the last year or so.T-Shirt Jm "They've [January and February] gained a larger share of sales," Tron said. Bathroom Vent Fan Dust"That's good news for retailers, because it takes the pressure off November and December."Buy Water Pipes Online Australia Traffic stays brisk in stores after Christmas partly because customers are exchanging and returning gifts in late December and early January, Tron said.

Also, customers are looking for bargains as they prepare for Christmas next year. For example, Target customers this week can buy Christmas lights, gift wrap, ornaments and other holiday items for up to 50 percent off, said Megan Boyd, Target spokesperson. Also, in a new promotion this year, shoppers can swap unwanted gift cards they received from other stores for a Target gift card. "There are hundreds of card types eligible for exchange," Boyd said. "Based on the gift card a guest brings in to trade, we'll make an offer on a new Target GiftCard that the guest can choose to accept or decline." Walmart also plans clearance sales on Christmas décor items, toys, apparel and electronics. Best Buy will cut prices on major appliances by 30 percent, some small appliances by 25 percent and certain high-definition televisions by 20 percent. Customers can save $100 on an Apple watch and up to $300 on some MacBooks, said Best Buy spokesman Ryan Stanzel. Through Tuesday, JCPenney is selling Arizona boys' and girls' denims for $14.99, and men's and juniors' denims for $17.99.

A four-piece Protocol luggage set is $69.99 and a Cooks power blender or non-stick griddle is $19.99, said JCPenney spokesman Joey Thomas. In addition, JCPenney has cut prices on men's St. John's Bay men's heavyweight knit tops and flannel shirts by 60 to 65 percent, adult athletic shoes by 30  to 60 percent and handbags and women's sleepwear by 50 percent. Here are sales at other stores this week: Home Depot is taking 10 percent off appliances costing $396 or more. These include microwaves, ranges, refrigerators, washers, dryers and dishwashers. The sale lasts through Jan. 27. Kohl's is taking 25 percent off Nike shoes, 20 percent off purchases of $100 or more and 15 percent off purchases of less than $100 through Thursday. Kmart is having an after-Christmas sale and clearance. The store is cutting prices by 60 percent on apparel and up to 50 percent on other merchandise. hhgregg is reducing prices by up to 30 percent on major appliances -- including refrigerators, washers and dryers -- plus an extra 5 percent on selected items when a customer spends $797 or more.

The sale is through Wednesday. Office Depot/OfficeMax is cutting prices by 50 percent on some items, including chairs and filling cabinets. Customers can save between $150 and $220 on laptops. The sale lasts through Saturday. Levin Furniture is having an end-of-the-year, 50-percent-off sale through Tuesday. Also, customers can receive free $50, $100 and $150 gift cards with purchases of $499, $999 and $1,499 or more, respectively. Brooks Brothers is hosting its semi-annual sale through Sunday. Men can save 40 percent if they purchase four dress shirts instead of one, and women can save between $100 and $300 on dresses.Distribution (also known as the place variable in the marketing mix, or the 4 Ps) involves getting the product from the manufacturer to the ultimate consumer. Distribution is often a much underestimated factor in marketing. Many marketers fall for the trap that if you make a better product, consumers will buy it. The problem is that retailers may not be willing to devote shelf-space to new products.

Retailers would often rather use that shelf-space for existing products have that proven records of selling. Although many firms advertise that they save the consumer money by selling "direct" and “eliminating the middleman,” this is a dubious claim in most instances. The truth is that intermediaries, such as retailers and wholesalers, tend to add efficiency because they can do specialized tasks better than the consumer or the manufacturer. Because wholesalers and retailers exist, the consumer can buy one pen at a time in a store located conveniently rather than having to order it from a distant factory. Thus, distributors add efficiency by: Many of the cost savings associated with having an efficient system of intermediaries result from specialization. Manufacturers specialize in what they do well—manufacturing products—while others specialize in handling various phases of the distribution path. Some specialize in retailing—usually selling a large assortment of goods in small quantities to a large number of end customers.

Wholesalers, in turn, specialize in moving and goods from numerous manufacturers to a large number of retailers. Channel structures vary somewhat by the nature of the product. Jet aircraft are custom made and shipped directly to the airline. Automobiles, because they are difficult to move, are shipped directly to a dealer. Other products are shipped through a wholesaler who can more efficiently handle, and combine, products from many different suppliers. Several layers of wholesalers may exist, depending on the product. Occasionally, agents may also be involved. Agents usually do not handle products, but instead take care of the business aspect of negotiating with distributors, which manufacturers may feel uncomfortable or ill prepared for doing themselves.An interesting phenomenon that has been consistently observed in the retail world is the tendency of stores to progressively add to their services. Many stores have started out as discount facilities but have gradually added services that customers have desired.

For example, the main purpose of shopping at establishments like Costco and Sam’s Club is to get low prices. These stores have, however, added a tremendous number of services—e.g., eye examinations, eye glass prescription services, tire installation, insurance services, upscale coffee, and vaccinations. Most manufacturers would prefer to have their products distributed widely—that is, for the products to be available in as many stores as possible. This is especially the case for convenience products where the customer has little motivation to go to a less convenient retail outlet to get his or her preferred brand. Soft drinks would be an extreme example here. The vast majority of people would settle for their less preferred brand in a vending machine rather than going elsewhere to get their top choice. This is one reason why being a small share brand in certain categories can become a vicious cycle that perpetuates itself. For most manufacturers, wide distribution is not realistically obtainable.

In food product categories, for example, the larger supermarkets can carry a large number of brands. Smaller convenience stores and warehouse stores, however, are likely to carefully pick a few brands. After all, if convenience stores were to carry as many products as supermarkets, the purpose of having a neighborhood store with easy entry and exit would be defeated. In a very small number of cases, some manufacturers prefer to have their products selectively, or even exclusively, distributed. This is usually the case for high prestige brands (e.g., Estee Lauder) or premium quality image brands (e.g., high end electronic products) that require considerable before and after sales service. Manufacturers of different kinds of products have different interests with respect to the availability of their products. For convenience products such as soft drinks, it is essential that your product be available widely. Chances are that if a store does not have a consumer’s preferred brand of soft drinks, the consumer will settle for another brand rather than taking the trouble to go to another store.

Occasionally, however, manufacturers will prefer selective distribution since they prefer to have their products available only in upscale stores. Parallel distribution structures refer to the fact that products may reach consumers in different ways. Most products flow through the traditional manufacturer - -> retailer --> consumer channel. Certain large chains may, however, demand to buy directly from the manufacturer since they believe they can provide the distribution services at a lower cost themselves. In turn, of course, they want lower prices, which may anger the traditional retailers who feel that this represents unfair competition. Firms may also choose to utilize factory outlet stores. To allay concerns held by conventional stores, however, these factory outlet stores are usually located in areas where they are not easily accessible. We must consider what is realistically available to each firm. A small manufacturer of potato chips would like to be available in grocery stores nationally, but this may not be realistic.

We need to consider, then, both who will be willing to carry our products and whom we would actually like to carry them. In general, for convenience products, intense distribution is desirable, but only brands that have a certain amount of power—e.g., an established brand name—can hope to gain national intense distribution. Note that for convenience goods, intense distribution is less likely to harm the brand image—it is not a problem, for example, for Haagen Dazs to be available in a convenience store along with bargain brands—it is expected that people will not travel much for these products, so they should be available anywhere the consumer demands them. However, in the category of shopping goods, having Rolex watches sold in discount stores would be undesirable—here, consumers do travel, and goods are evaluated by customers to some extent based on the surrounding merchandise. In general, a brand can expect lesser distribution in its early stages—fewer retailers are motivated to carry it.

Similarly, when a product category is new, it will be available in fewer stores—e.g., in the early days, computer disks were available only in specialty stores, but now they can be found in supermarkets and convenience stores as well. Certain products that are not well established may have to get their start on "infomercials," only slowly getting entry into other types out outlets. (Please see PowerPoint chart). Different parties involved in the marketing of products tend to have different, and often conflicting, interests: Diversion occurs when merchandise intended for one market is bought up by a distributor that then ships it to a different market. Sometimes, a manufacturer will run a promotion in one region but not in another, and speculators will then buy extra quantity in the promoted area and ship it another area. The speculator will then sell it to local retailers or distributors for a price slightly lower than what is being charged through the regular channel but at a price that still allows a nice profit.

Certain products sell for different prices in different countries. As we discussed in the unit of international marketing, a gray market occurs when a product is bought in one country and exported to another where the price is generally higher. Both Louis Vuitton suitcases and golf clubs were imported to Japan, depressing prices there.Over the past decade, there has been considerable growth in both extremes of the continuum from low price, low service to high price, high service retailers. There has been considerably growth both in the Wal-Mart and Nordstrom-type retailers than there has been in between. For some time, during difficult economic times in the mid 2000s, discount stores like Wal-Mart actually tended to increase sales as consumers seemed to switch their purchases of the same products from higher priced to lower priced stores rather than reducing the quantity and quality bought in the product categories. It appears that consumers have done most of the switching that can be reasonably done this way already.