Here are the key points. 

The dawning of "information age" marketing is transforming marketers' perception of point of sale.  Once it was the tacky, tactical, sales promotions bit added on as an afterthought to sexy ad campaigns.  Now marketers recognise that parallel to every exchange of money for goods there's a simultaneous flow of information.  Capturing this information is becoming critical.  It is the means of keeping up with customer and market trends and a key, if not the key, to building long-term relationships and loyalty.  Not surprisingly, in industry after industry, the race is now on to "own" the transaction, especially if it is currently owned by a third party distributor who acts as a barrier between marketer and customer.  This is one powerful driver behind the rise and rise of "direct" channels. 

As marketers realise that the experience of choosing and buying a brand can be as important to its success as its actual consumption, companies which have previously happily relied on third party resellers now find themselves struggling to get their distribution channels to express their brands' values. 

The communications and telecoms revolution meanwhile opens up a whole new range of opportunities and threats.  When the information superhighway eventually arrives, anything that can be digitalised can be distributed down the wires.  Traditional distribution channels for a wide range of industries such as publishing and financial services are already being recast. 

Traditional media are meanwhile rapidly becoming distribution channels in their own right.  Indeed, the continued rise of off-page selling and direct response TV is blurring the once-clear distinction between brand communication and selling. 

New business philosophies are adding impetus to the distribution revolution.  Concepts such as total supply chain management, partnership sourcing and just-in-time often seem remote from marketing.  But reducing the quantity of trading relationships between suppliers and customers and improving the quality of those that remain is transforming what marketers sell, to whom and how. 

Finally, the attitude of the modern shopper is increasingly "I want it how I want it, when I want it, where I want it" - which is often at home.  That's driving a fragmentation of distribution channels in ways which would have been unthinkable only a few years ago. 

The increasing association of certain brands with certain channels; the increased branding of channel-specific offers such as Direct Line, the rise of partnership-marketing and co-branding strategies - these are just the tip of the iceberg.  A reconfigured distribution infrastructure will create new brand, new brand offers and images, cost structures and price points, and communication strategies.  Of the good old "four Ps", it's not Promotion but Place that's ringing the real changes in marketing.