With the introduction of the internet, many people thought that all B-to-B shopping would be completed online and the need for distributors would be eliminated. However, distributors perform important functions for business customers including all of the following except:

a. providing information and advice.

b. providing credit and delivery for purchases.

c. processing returns.

d. selling items at wholesale costs.

The Answer is C. Processing Returns.

Explanation:

First, lets try to understand the question.

Who is a distributor? simple, a distributor is an agent that supplies goods of a manufacturer to retailers.

So, option A is correct. They do provide Info and advice.

option B is correct as well. They provide credit and delivery for purchases.

Option D is acceptable as well! Since the distributors are supplying to the retailers, they are indeed selling at wholesale costs.

So, What about C? Processing Returns? Let's take an example. You buy a product from Walmart. If there is a problem with the product, who do you contact? Its either Walmart or the Manufacturer who's contact details are available on the package right? Not to the one who distributed products to the Walmart.

Answer: Selling items at wholesale cost.

Explanation: The distributors are very essential in marketing, this is due to the fact that the distributors are directly in charge of taking products from the manufacturers down to the final retailers or end user. Internet sales allows direct supply of products to the end users or retailers in most cases.

The distributors only sell at wholesale cost to retailers who buy to resell, but sell at retail price to end users.