20 Marketing, distribution, sales, and rental

Connecting consumers and businesses with the products, materials, resources, and services that they need is an essential part of human civilization. We obtain items and services in many ways: through visits to retail outlets, through online ordering, through interaction with sales representatives, etc. We can buy or rent; we can pay through cash, check, credit, and evolving new methods of direct electronic payment. Bringing goods to market and to the consumer occurs through complex networks of communication and transportation that are global in scope. The providers of the items and services must in turn constantly identify customer needs and make sure customers are aware of the products available: hence the field of marketing. We may take all of this for granted (or in some cases we may find it intrusive when we are confronted by strident advertising)…but how does physics connect with this realm of human activity?

At the retail store we see many physical technologies at work: bar codes and QR codes are scanned for pricing and inventory management. RFID tags and other measures help prevent theft and provide data for inventory control. The optical scanners, radio transceivers, and detectors used for this work are intricate devices that exploit several physical effects. Signage and product displays may use interesting physical technologies, including LED arrays, flat-screen displays, animated mechanical motions, special lighting, audio, etc. Point of sale technologies recognize, count, and dispense cash, process credit cards, verify checks, and carry out encrypted wireless purchasing.

At a deeper level, physics plays an important role in providing purchasers with fact-based information about product specifications and performance. Special organizations use sophisticated laboratory and instrumental methods to test and report on the safety, durability, and performance of products. Physical process modeling helps ensure that the flow of products through ordering and distribution networks is timely and efficient. Distributed sensing systems and robotics track and move goods through warehouses and into various channels of distribution. At the level business-to-business commerce, such technologies enable just-in-time supply ordering and delivery, eliminating waste and reducing costs. At the individual consumer level, technologies for tracking specific items and monitoring their condition can be used in rental and other types of shared access to goods.

Devices can help order supplies for people with special needs, especially for those who might be physically impaired. For more general consumers, drones and robots are being considered for individual delivery of purchased items. Finally – and importantly – on a global scale, the accumulation and assimilation of physical data about water supply, crop yields, weather, road conditions, and many other factors creates a system to guide the delivery of food, medicine, clothing, materials, and tools that helps move people out of poverty and can – in situations driven to extremes by both natural and human causes – mean the difference between life and death.