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1. MODELING CONFLICT AND COORDINATION IN MULTICHANNEL
DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS: A REVIEW
37
– Dynamic pricing becomes much more feasible when selling online, as
there are no physical price tags or display labels to manually update.
Dell Computer is known to alter its prices on a frequent basis to balance
demand and supply (McWilliams 2001).
– An online channel's ability to identify individual customers raises the
prospect of personalized pricing, although public acceptance of the
practice remains an obstacle12.
– Auctions have always provided sellers a way to pursue the highest
possible price for an item, and perhaps to offer multiples of the same
product at different prices (if auctioned separately). The growing reach
and market acceptance of online auction-enablers such as eBay have led
an increasing number of firms to consider adding an auction-based
channel for regular sales (as opposed to the occasional liquidation of
distressed inventory13) and for reaching individuals (as opposed to other
firms) (Brown 2002).
– The Internet has enabled sellers to make innovative use of traditional
instruments such as volume pricing. Mercata.com and others enabled
unaffiliated individuals to spontaneously pool their buying power to
become eligible for the bulk discounts14. Anand and Aron (2002)
evaluate this selling approach in a context without intermediaries or
multiple channels.
12 Amazon.com terminated its Fall 2000 experiment with this strategy due to customer
complaints after the practice was publicized (Rosencrance 2000).
13 The secondary market of Peleg and Lee (2002) is described as an auction, but is used only
for the disposal of surplus. The modeled mechanism results in all units being sold at the
same price to all interested buyers.
14 Mercata.com invited any online visitor to join a buying group for a particular product, with
the price of the product dropping with each new member. The final price would be known
only at the end of the joining period, but that price would be available to all group
members regardless of when they joined. This was premised to accelerate demand
creation since potential buyers would join even if the current price exceeded their
maximum willingness to pay, as long as they could expect additional price declines. Such
collective behavior would in turn make the desired price a sell-fulfilling prophecy.
Moreover, this method gives group members incentive to recruit additional buyers from
their personal networks, effectively turning customers into a volunteer sales force. (The
notion of customers providing sales effort, which is an example of what some term "viral
marketing," is certainly outside the scope of any model of which we are aware.)
Mercata.com ceased operations in January 2001, in part because manufacturers were
reluctant to sell this way for fear of angering their traditional retail partners (Fowler 2002).
This does not necessarily invalidate the sales model, but certainly underscores our thesis
about the importance of managing channel conflict.
38 Chapter 13
Modeling these types of pricing strategies would most likely require
some combination of more time periods, more price variables and all the
ancillary demand elasticities and cross-elasticities, and more detailed models
of consumer behavior and preferences.
4.1.2 Non-financial aspects of the purchase
A purchase is more than an exchange of dollars for product, and different
channels can provide distinctive experiences for the buyer even if selling the
same physical product at the same price. Many facets of this issue have been
studied extensively in the marketing and consumer behavior literatures, but
not in the competitive context of a multi-channel model. Two commonly
mentioned examples are:
– A number of experiential distinctions are especially pronounced when
comparing direct and bricks-and-mortar channels. These include visual
and tactile interaction with the product15, the method of obtaining product
information (e.g., face to face, over a phone line, or through a computer
screen), the delay between purchase and receipt, and even the crowds that
often define bricks-and-mortar shopping (which can either be a positive
or a negative depending on individual preferences). Naturally, these
types of qualitative factors have been difficult to model in any detail.
– Ease of returning product is a major consideration when customers
decide how to buy. Bricks-and-mortar channels enjoy an advantage in
this category, as most virtual channels do not reimburse return freight
charges except for defective products (and even then, the customer must
still endure the hassle of shipping and then ensuring the proper crediting
of a refund). Existing models offer guidance on how a seller might
design a customer return policy to accommodate legitimate customer
concerns while guarding against opportunistic behavior (e.g., Davis et al.
1995, Hess et al. 1996, Chu et al. 1998, Davis et al. 1998). However,
they do not consider the return policy in a competitive context.
Modeling the competitive consequences of non-financial dimensions can
be challenging. Unlike a seller's price, which ultimately is only relevant to
either the buyer or seller when a purchase is made from that seller, some of
15 Goods are sometimes categorized into "search" and "experience" goods. Features of a
search good can be evaluated from externally provided information, whereas experience
goods need to be personally inspected (cf. Peterson et al. 1997).
1. MODELING CONFLICT AND COORDINATION IN MULTICHANNEL
DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS: A REVIEW
39
the non-price factors can be decoupled from the actual purchase of the item.
That is, there are cases in which one channel delivers value to consumers but
is uncompensated for this because the consumers ultimately spend their
money in a different channel. An obvious example is when a consumer
researches a product using the resources of a retail store, but makes the
actual purchase online. On the other hand, a direct seller may invest heavily
in generating demand for the product only to have customers make the
purchase at a local store (usually for immediate gratification and convenient
return privileges)16. Either way, a firm is choosing investment levels in
actions that may influence collective demand but which might not provide an
appropriate individual payback. This is a major contributor to concerns
about channel conflict. It is not clear when the net externality of such
activities will be positive (i.e., some new customers also spill over to the
other channel) and hence subject to free-riding, or negative (i.e.,
cannibalizing) in which case the non-price factor is more a competitive
weapon like price. Hence, both possibilities need to be modeled for
adequate realism17. At the very least this suggests the limitations of
considering just one type of "service" or "sales effort" as many models do.
Existing research has not done an adequate job of handling both in the same
model, likely because of the additional dimensionality this would entail.
4.1.3 Non-price product attributes
The prevailing modeling framework has competing channels selling the
same product, or at least closely substitutable variants. In reality, key
attributes of the product may depend significantly on the channel type.
A direct channel may be selling the same good as a bricks-and-mortar
channel, but in a different form. This is especially likely for information
goods such as software or music, which are purchased on tangible storage
16 This is an issue when the retailer is independent. However, sellers that control all their
channels can exploit this concern by allowing direct purchases to be returned at the
physical stores. The Gap Inc. is one firm using this approach.
17 A first step might be to categorize service or effort activities into "transactional" and
"informational" types. Transactional service describes those aspects that are not
meaningful to a customer who does not complete the purchase transaction in that channel.
Examples include a fast checkout process or a lenient return policy. Informational service,
such as activities that educate customers about the brand or product, can be "consumed"
separately from the product. Informational service is obviously the type that is susceptible
to free riding.
40 Chapter 13
media at retail stores but may be downloaded in purely digital form online18.
Or, a direct channel and a bricks-and-mortar channel may be selling
fundamentally different products. Customization is often a key dimension of
the value proposition. By self-selection, customers of direct channels are
willing to tolerate some delay in obtaining the product. This creates the
prospect of shifting from make-to-stock mode (which dominates traditional
retail) to make-to-order mode. This option has always existed for all forms
of mail-order, but the Internet has provided an automated and efficient
mechanism for extracting and even influencing customer preferences, and
communicating these from the customer to the factory. Furthermore, recent
manufacturing and supply chain process innovations have facilitated time
compression and efficiency in production and logistics. Together these have
given direct sellers a viable way to meet individual customer preferences
better than traditional retailers can, and at reasonable prices. Dell Computer
is the most prominent practitioner of this business model.
When selling the same product in different forms or fundamentally
different products, the competing channels may exhibit sharply divergent
economic properties, in areas such as inventory management. Customer
preferences are also likely to vary substantially across the channels.