Diversification is insurance against dependency, not a moral requirement to operate in every available channel.
The argument.
Concentration creates fragility because a single external actor can change the economics of the whole enterprise. The obvious answer is diversification. The less obvious answer is that diversification itself has a cost.
A second or third channel may require new inventory, people, technology, packaging, pricing rules and marketing. If those channels cannot support themselves economically, the business can destroy present value in order to purchase theoretical resilience.
The decision is therefore an insurance problem. Estimate the expected loss from concentration, the probability and severity of disruption, and the real cost of maintaining alternatives. Buy optionality when its premium is lower than the risk it offsets.
The goal is not three logos on a channel slide. It is enough independent economic capacity that a change in one relationship does not remove the ability to choose.
Return to the Economics Office index, or read Fourth Derivative in the Free Public Library.