Not every retailer that sits between the manufacturer and the consumer is a middleman. That is, it is literally a middleman, but not in the sense that it necess

Not every retailer that sits between the manufacturer and the consumer is a middleman. That is, it is literally a middleman, but not in the sense that it necessarily has to take on a rent-seeking, economically harmful role. Most manufacturers don't have the expertise in dealing with retail and don't care to build it up. They stick to what they're good at, which is manufacturing, and let the retailer stick to what they're good at, which is dealing with the whole host of other issues that arise in retail commerce. In a related current development, traditional automakers like Ford are angling to sell directly to the consumer, like Tesla does. People are generally on board with this because dealership experiences do suck often. But once dealers are all driven out of business, it's a good bet that the automaker will benefit from that surplus, not the consumer. It'll be interesting to see.