In Economics is the social science studying production and consumption through measurable variables. ...economics, disintermediation is the removal of intermediaries in a A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials; transformation of these material into intermediate and finished products; and distribution of these finished products to customers. ...supply chain: "cutting out the middleman". Instead of going through traditional distribution channels, which had some type of intermediate (such as a distributor, wholesaler, broker, or agent), companies may now deal with every customer directly, for example via the Internet. One important factor is a drop in the cost of servicing customers directly.

Disintermediation initiated by consumers is often the result of high In economics, a market is transparent if much is known by many about what products and/or services are available at what price and where. ...market transparency, in that buyers are aware of supply prices direct from the manufacturer. Buyers bypass the middlemen (wholesalers and retailers) in order to buy directly from the manufacturer and thereby pay less. Buyers can alternatively elect to purchase from wholesalers. Often, a Business_to_consumer electronic commerce (B2C) is typified by the publicly addressed forms of eCommerce such as webshops and TeleShopping. ...B2C intermediary functions as the bridge between buyer and manufacturer.

To illustrate, a typical B2C supply chain is composed of four or five entities (in order):

• Supplier
• Manufacturer
• Wholesaler
• Retailer
• Buyer

It has been argued that the Internet modifies the supply chain due to market transparency:

• Supplier
• Manufacturer
• Buyer

Impact of Internet_related disintermediation upon various industries

Strong impact

• The tower of a personal computer (specifically a Power Mac G5). ...Computer hardware and Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ...software
• A travel agency is a store where individuals or families go to buy travel packages. ...Travel agencies
• Categories: Bookstores | Stub ...Bookstores and This article needs cleanup. ...music stores

Still in progress (due to legal or structural obstacles)

• Alcoholic beverages are drinks containing ethanol, popularly called alcohol. ...Alcoholic beverages
• Real estate is a legal term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings. ...Real estate

Failed and became niche ancillary services

• Furniture is the collective term for the movable objects which support the human body (seating furniture and beds), provide storage, and hold objects on horizontal surfaces above the ground. ...Furniture
• Supermarket produce section A supermarket is a store that sells a wide variety of goods including food and alcohol, medicine, clothes, and other household products that are consumed regularly. ...Groceries
• Pet supplies (especially Dog food is plant or animal material intended for consumption by dogs or other canids. ...dog food)

Discussion

An example of disintermediation has been Dell, Inc. ...Dell Computers which sells many of its systems direct to the consumer bypassing traditional retail chains. In the non_Internet world, disintermediation has been an important part of many big box retailers such as Wal_Mart Stores, Inc. ...Walmart which attempt to reduce prices by reducing the number of intermediaries between the supplier and the buyer. Disintermediation is also closely associated with the idea of Just in time manufacturing is a theory of manufacturing whereby both incoming and outgoing inventories are kept to an absolute minimum. ...just in time manufacturing as the removal of the need for In business management, inventory consists of a list of goods and materials held available in stock. ...inventory removes one function of an intermediary.

The existence of laws which discourage disintermediation has been cited as a reason for the poor economic performance of Official language Japanese Capital Tokyo Largest City Tokyo Emperor Akihito Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi Area  _ Total  _ % water Ranked 60th 377,835 km² 0. ...Japan and The Federal Republic of Germany ( German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is one of the worlds leading industrialised countries, located in the heart of Europe. ...Germany in the 1990s.

However, disintermediation has often occurred less frequently as a result of the Internet than many expected during the Dot_com (also dotcom or redundantly dot. ...dot com boom. Retailers and wholesalers provide functions such as the extension of credit, aggregation of products from different suppliers, and processing of returns. In addition, shipping goods to and from the manufacturer can in many cases be far less efficient than shipping them to a store where the consumer can pick them up (if the consumer's trip to the store is ignored). In response to the threat of disintermediation, some retailers have attempted to integrate an virtual presence and a physical presence in a strategy known as Bricks and clicks is a business strategy or business model in e_commerce by which a company attempts to integrate both online and physical presences. ...bricks and clicks.

See also: Reintermediation can be defined as the reintroduction of an intermediary between end users (consumers) and a producer. ...Reintermediation