Two students, Nick and Lee, were studying for an upcoming exam in their introduction to marketing course. While studying the chapter on marketing channels and wholesalers, Nick made the following statement: "If it weren’t for wholesalers and other intermediaries in the channel of distribution, the products we buy would cost a lot less!" After contemplating Nick’s statement, Lee said, "Wait a minute. We learned in class that channel intermediaries actually make marketing more efficient by minimizing the number of transactions necessary to sell products." Lee’s statement refers to ?