It enables you to place your product with the distributor, to take up space in his warehouse, to access his sales network, and to get space on store shelves. The per product cost—not in the case of a single distributor but for all the distributors—, if a manufacturer wants to sell a 200 ml jar of strawberry jam throughout the entire chain, will be $540,000 or $520,000 to gain access to the system. And the producer at that point still hasn't sold a single crate, he's merely paid to access the system.
On May 5th, 2009. See this statement in context.