| European Retail Research: 2010 I Volume 24 Issue I 2010 Edition Contributor(s): Schnedlitz, Peter (Editor), Morschett, Dirk (Editor), Rudolph, Thomas (Editor) |
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ISBN: 3834922544 ISBN-13: 9783834922540 Publisher: Gabler Verlag OUR PRICE: $52.24 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 2010 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Business & Economics | Management - General - Business & Economics | Production & Operations Management - Business & Economics | Marketing - General |
| Dewey: 332.673 |
| Series: European Retail Research |
| Physical Information: 0.5" H x 5.83" W x 8.27" (0.64 lbs) 222 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The discussion about Multi-Channel-Systems in retail business might not be new - but it has gained momentum against the background of consolidations and mergers, the devel- ment of information and communication technologies (ICT) and experiences of disillusi- ment with pure e-commerce players (Dohmann et al. 2002; Barth et al. 2007). This is additionally evidenced by the increasing number of academic publications and the gain in importance of multi-channel distribution in retail-practice - where many pure e-players have augmented their structure of distribution with alternative channels (Tang/Xing 2001; Sch gel et al. 2004). Despite the lively discussions on the part of academic researchers and the growth of experience in practice, there is still an unsatisfactorily low level of knowledge - which might be the reason why companies often fail in the realization or achieve only suboptimal levels of channel in- gration - even though the domination of multi-channel companies in the B2C e-commerce s- tor (with the exception of a few companies, e. g. eBay or Amazon) implies a great potential for success (Hudetz/Baal 2005; Emrich 2008). For this reason most authors seem to agree upon the potential as well as the relevance of multi-channel distributors. Hudetz/Baal identify mul- channel companies "a good starting base to get even more dominant in the future" (Hudetz/Baal 2005, p. 136). Emrich agrees that multi-channel strategies might become "crucial to survive" (Emrich 2008, p. 1), and Ahlert/Hesse (2003) substantiate with empirical studies the preference that customers have for multi-channel distributors. |