A lot of where you stand on this issue may depend on where you sit
If bikes are a commodity (think YZ250s or CRF450s) then maybe it doesn't matter if you buy it at Walmart or a dealer, because in some sense the larger dealers are just like a big-box store.
If instead bikes are an emotional entity (as may be stated as the case for GasGas and TM and Beta) then perhaps a more intimate dealership experience is necessary. The problem is that the volume of Spanish and Italian bikes sold in a year doesn't support a vast dealer network, and you're left taking a chance on having a bike shipped or driving a long distance to pick it up.
If you decide you'll accept a bike shipped, it can just as easily come from a distributor or manufacturer or a dealer, but then who takes care of the customer from that point forward?
Looking at the automotive business as a larger scale but somewhat analogous example, it can be seen that manufacturers need to limit their supply and customer base in order to effectively run their businesses. Ford may sell a couple million cars a year, but they only have a couple thousand customers - the dealers. They only have to deal with that fraction of entities when it comes to deliveries, payments, warranty transactions, etc. and that makes the business manageable.
Some of the acceptance of the "ship it in" model may have to do with a rider's ability to handle what whatever little mechanical gremlins pop up, or their availability to spend time sorting out issues. I've bought bikes from all over the country sight-unseen because I was willing to invest the time to make them right if they arrived flawed.
All of that having been said, in a lot of ways many of my good customers have followed the "direct" model in that they bought their bikes elsewhere and so I have to differentiate my business in other ways instead of expecting return business simply because they bought a bike here.