The following are two of the most troublesome developments affecting the pricing policies and strategies of many manufacturers of branded products:

1. Gray market refers to the sale, usually at very low prices, of brand-name products by unauthorized distributors or dealers.
2. Freeriding: a term used to describe the behavior of distributors and dealers who offer extremely low prices but little if any service to customers.

The discounters get a "free ride" from the services provided by the higher-priced full-service distributors and dealers when the consumer uses the full-service distributors and/or dealers for product information, and then buy from the lower-priced vendor.

For this discussion, you must research, and understand what Gray Market and Freeriding are and answer the following questions:

1. Is the use of the Internet to gain product information before a purchase a form of "free-riding"?
2. Does the use of the Internet, by its virtually unlimited availability of products, promote and enhance the gray market? If so, how can manufacturers address these issues?
3. Why are marketing channel decisions as important as pricing and product feature decisions?