Marketing Channel Strategy

The OmnI-ChAnnel eCOsysTem
16
The approach has prompted intense lobbying and legal action from advocacy 
groups and automobile associations, though,
40
 which are seeking to avoid the fate 
of intermediaries like travel agents.
The Internet also has spawned several consumer-to-consumer service businesses 
with novel channel captains. For example, Airbnb enables consumers to rent out 
extra rooms or vacation properties to other consumers who choose to stay in these 
facilities rather than traditional hotel rooms. The American Hotel and Lodging 
Association is lobbying regulators to put curbs on Airbnb operations, arguing that 
the service being provided really is an unregulated hotel.
41
Trend 5: Targeted Promotions and Customer Insights
Targeted promotions delivered via email, online couponing, price matching, and 
social media advertising are all tools that leverage new mass communication pro-
motional channels. They effectively harness customer relationship marketing and 
social media benefits to facilitate an omni-channel strategy. For example, Walgreens 
and Foursquare have partnered on a location-based social networking site that 
provides electronic coupons to customers as soon as they enter a Walgreens store; 
Catalina Marketing uses in-store purchasing histories to deliver personalized mobile 
ads to consumers too.
42
 Such technologies create a data-rich environment, as we 
elaborate in Chapters 10 and 11.
But many retailers have not fully developed their webpages or e-stores to ensure 
optimal presentations on various online and mobile platforms. In some cases, 
their mobile and online channels even compete directly with each other. An 
omni-channel strategy instead requires that upstream and downstream channel 
members integrate their promotion, pricing, and brand positioning across chan-
nels. For example, in their online channels, retailers are not constrained by store 
size or shelf space, so they can carry a wider assortment and potentially target more 
customers. Thus Walmart can target higher-income customers through its online 
and mobile platforms, competing with Costco and Amazon by selling higher-end, 
branded items, even while maintaining its low-price positioning for in-store shop-
pers. Such end-user segmentation across channels is challenging; different end-users 
seek varying bundles of services and thus prefer different channel arrangements. It 
is up to upstream and downstream channel partners to synchronize the bundle of 
services, and the costs involved in serving these customer segments, to find a fair, 
appealing, efficient pricing strategy.
C H A N N E L S T R A T E G Y F R A M E W O R K
An 

tải về 5.39 Mb.

Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn: