What is Hybrid marketing System?

What is Hybrid marketing System?

Previously companies used only one channel of distribution to access the market e.g. either through direct sales or through distributors. However nowadays in order to expand market coverage or control costs they resorted to using more than one channel of distribution in order to access different customer segments. They may sell their goods using direct sales or direct mail or through distributors or retailers or both to access more than one customer segments. E.g. IBM uses its sales force to sell to large accounts, telemarketing services are used to sell to medium sized accounts, direct mail is used to sell to small accounts, services of retailers are used to access smaller accounts and internet is used to sell specialty items. Now here in this example big, small and medium sized accounts are different customer segments while sales force, telemarketing, direct mail, retailers and internet are different kinds of channels of distribution which IBM is using to approach multiple customer segments.