Distribution service outputs structurally play a pivotal role in retail and channel management. This paper critically assesses the nature of Bucklin’s classic formulation, which is concerned with numerically expressible economic benefits resulting from the execution of the distribu- tion function within a perfectly operating economic channel. It is distinguished from post- classic extensions, which provide alternative multi-functional or institutional approaches. The paper captures both approaches in a generic higher-order customer value scheme, which also redefines and broadens the traditional economic benefits. The proposed generic framework also extends to any marketing sub-field and provides the potential for more focused theoreti- cal and empirical research.