Channel check

Gathering evidence from the distribution chain: distributors, retailers, suppliers and customers.

Its purpose is to test a specific claim rather than to browse. A check that asks whether a new product is actually moving, or whether a price increase has held, produces something the filings cannot.

Sampling is the whole difficulty. Six shops in one city is an anecdote, and the temptation is to treat the anecdote as data because it was expensive to collect.

Decide what would change your view before making the calls.