Marketing Channel Strategy
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| Online channels
offer a form of direct retail- ing, such that the consumer uses an Internet-enabled device to order products or services through the Internet and have them delivered, digitally or physically, to a preferred location. They provide a 24/7 shopping environment and a much wider array of goods and services available for purchase, unhindered by shelf-space constraints. In addition, they offer consumers a means to shop from anywhere and anytime, accessing vendors located in all corners of the world. Other nota- ble strengths of online channels include their easy search functions; provision of detailed product information, both from the manufacturer or retailer and in the form of online reviews posted by other users; and helpful product and price com- parison tools. Thus, by 2016, online sales accounted for 8.1 percent of all retail sales; that number is expected to grow at double-digit rates in the next several years. 25 The top 25 retailers earned combined online sales of $159 billion in 2016, and notably, 18 of these 25 companies started as traditional brick-and-mortar retailers (e.g., Walmart). 26 Yet online channels also feature limitations, in that end-users cannot touch, feel, or try on products. Therefore, their return rates tend to be high, and the cost of those returns must be absorbed by the system. The need to wait for physical product delivery represents another drawback of online channels from end-users’ perspec- tive. In a related sense, online channels are constrained when it comes to selling items with a poor weight-to-value ratio; it even may be economically unfeasible for a channel actor to ship low-priced but heavy products like concrete or rice. The OmnI-ChAnnel eCOsysTem 12 EXAMPLE: HOLLAR—TAKING THE DOLLAR STORE ONLINE (USA) hollar is an online dollar store, conceived of in 2015 when the founders saw that e-commerce had not really penetrated this retail space. existing companies such as Dollar General and Dollar Tree had limited online presence, and e-commerce startups were focusing all their efforts on more affluent customer groups. For hollar, 80 percent of its traffic comes from customers using their mobile devices to find items commonly found in drug stores, at much lower prices. 27 many items cost $1, though the median price on hollar is $5; nothing costs more than $10. The company boasts more than 2 million active users. 28 To deal with shipping costs, it avoids carrying heavy items (an average shipment weighs 5 pounds) and requires a minimum order of $10—though average order sizes reach about $30. F R O M A M U L T I - C H A N N E L T O A N O M N I - C H A N N E L W O R L D Some writers use the terms “multi-channel,” “omni-channel,” and “cross-channel” loosely and nearly interchangeably. 29 Yet omni-channel and its variants are becom- ing increasingly prevalent; in Figure 1.2, we graph the frequency of searches for the term “omni-channel” in recent years. This growth reflects market trends. The ever-growing share of online sales has prompted most manufacturers to add online channels to their existing channels mix. In certain industries (e.g., travel, books), online sales have decimated tradi- tional intermediaries; in others, though (e.g., food retailing), the impact of online tải về 5.39 Mb. Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn:
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