How do you redefine "distribution" in a digital age, particularly for brands that sell direct? Is search (organic or paid) now part of distribution?

Distribution just really refers to availability. And in the past it was very simple. If you lived in a certain town and you wanted to buy a new car, either there was a dealer of that car or there wasn't, and if there wasn't, you probably wouldn't want to buy that car because you didn't want to have to drive too far for service, etc. That is really quite straightforward. And it's still true, by the way. But it's correct, of course, that with the internet, we have a far improved ability to distribute almost anywhere in the world. So it needs to be defined as such. And again, if you now have an unlimited supply or availability, because the product can be delivered anywhere in the world, you don't necessarily know that, and that's where the search comes in. So search activity is critically related to the economic effect of being widely available. And we know that distribution elacticities are very high - that's why this is important. But we don't have any reserach yet that shows these trade offs. In other words, you can be available everywhere, but if nobody's heard of you, then it doesn't matter that you're available anywhere. So you need to get that search going and the brand going with the two working together. We're at the cusp here and I expect to see some really good research on that in the near future.