Skip to ContentGo to accessibility page
Principles of Marketing

What Do Marketers Do?

Principles of MarketingWhat Do Marketers Do?

What Do Marketers Do?

Contact one of the following businesses and ask to speak to a person in the supply chain or logistics department. You might have to go through several people to actually get to the one that can best answer your questions. The goal with this exercise is to ask questions regarding the logistics in these companies to better understand the complex process. Every logistics department is involved in the movement of goods (the coming and/or going), but they vary in how they go about it.

  • A local warehouse
  • UPS
  • FedEx
  • An Amazon.com warehouse (they have multiple layers that you can contact as well as their logistics partner program)
  • A trucking company

When you speak to the professional, be prepared with questions that will help you understand this position. Here are a handful of questions to get you started:

  1. What is your job title and function?
  2. How would you describe your department?
  3. How did you obtain your position?
  4. What skills, background, or degree are needed to do this type of work?
  5. What are the main challenges faced by the department in the job?
  6. Are you aware of differences in how you run your operations versus a similar company? If yes, can you outline examples?
Citation/Attribution
Reuse and redistribution of this content in digital or print format:
  • This book may not be used in the training of large language models or otherwise be ingested into large language models or generative AI offerings without OpenStax's prior written permission.
  • This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License, which means that you can reuse and modify the material only for noncommercial purposes, must attribute OpenStax, and must distribute any derivative works under the same license.
  • Any commercial printing of this textbook, including using a local or custom printer, must be approved by OpenStax, and proper citation provided.
  • OpenStax-copyrighted images, activities, assessments, and similar components of this book are subject to the same licensing – CC-BY-NC-SA. They can be used for noncommercial purposes with attribution. Commercial use requires permission.
  • Permission requests: Anyone who intends to incorporate this content (including text, images, and other components) into large language models, use it in AI offerings, use it commercially (including in print), and/or has questions about another use case is welcome to complete our reuse request form.
Attribution information
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a noncommercial print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/principles-marketing/pages/1-unit-introduction

  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a noncommercial digital format, then for every page that includes OpenStax content, you must license the derivative work under the same CC-BY-NC-SA license as the original, and include on every digital page view the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/principles-marketing/pages/1-unit-introduction

Citation information

The information below includes the information needed to generate citations in most major styles (APA, MLA, etc.); you must reformat and organize the information as needed to fit the requirements of the style. Use the information below to generate a citation. We recommend using a citation tool such as this one.

© Apr 23, 2026 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo, and Rice University name, and Rice University logo trademarks, or wordmarks are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.