• International Area Studies Review
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.89-109
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• 2008

Using hybrid channel affords the benefits of achieving control through the direct channel and achieving flexibility through the indirect channel. However, using a hybrid channel also poses special challenges to a manufacturer, including the problem of managing multiple channel members with disparate goals and priorities. The purpose of this study is to enhance our understanding on the management of hybrid channel. We study marketing channels for fashion apparel to examine governance challenges and solutions of a hybrid channel. We have two objectives to fulfill that purpose. First, we aim to tie two largely separate research streams of salesforce management and marketing channel management together by examining both intrafrim governance and interfirm governance issues under one conceptual framework. Second, we aim to lay a ground work for rigorous further research on this topic by tying two major theoretical approaches of governance together under one conceptual framework. Our predictions were tested with data from the survey of apparel manufacturers and retailers. The analysis results support the predictions moderately.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.83-95
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• 2007

We are motivated by how offline and online firms compete. The Internet made many conventional offline firms build a dynamic online business as another sales channel using their advantages such as brand equity, an existing customer base with comprehensive purchasing data, integrated marketing, economies of scale, and longtime experience with the logistics of order fulfillment and customer service. Even though the hybrid selling using both offline and online channel seems to have advantages over a pure online retailer, all the conventional offline firms are not seen to create an online business. Many conventional offline firms began to launch online business since the Internet era, however, just being online business is not likely to guarantee success. According to Bizate.com's report whether the hybrid channel strategy is successful is still under investigation. For example, consider the classic case of Barnes and Noble versus Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble was already the largest chain of bookstores in the U,S., when Amazon.com was established in 1995, BarnesandNoble.com followed suit in 1997, After suffering losses in its initial years, Amazon finally turned profitable in 2003. In 2004, Amazon's net income was $588 million on revenues of $6.92 billion, while Barnes and Noble earned $143 million on revenues of $4.87 billion, which included BarnesandNoble.com's loss of $21 million on revenues of $420 million. While these examples serve to motivate our thinking, it does not explain when offline firms should venture online. It also does not provide an analytical framework that can generalized to other competitive online-offline situations. We attempt to do this in this paper and analyze a hybrid channel model where a conventional offline firm competes against online firms using its own direct online channels. We are particularly interested in an optimal channel strategy when a conventional offline firm sells its products through its own direct online channel to compete with other rival online firms. We consider two situations where its direct online channel and other online firms are symmetric and asymmetric in the brand effect. The analysis of this paper presents several findings. In the symmetric model where a hybrid firm's online channel is not differentiated from a pure online firm, (i) a conventional offline firm will not launch its online business. In the asymmetric model where a hybrid firm's online channel is differentiated from a pure online firm, (ii) a conventional offline firm can launch its online business if its brand effect is greater than a certain threshold. (iii) there is a positive relationship between its brand effect and online customer costs showing that a conventional offline firm needs more brand effect in order to launch online business as online customer costs decrease. (iv) there is a negative relationship between its brand effect and the number of customers with access to the Internet showing that a conventional offline firm tends to launch its online business when customers with access to the Internet increases.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.45-56
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aims to introduce a hybrid MCDM model to support the selection of retail store location. Research design, data, and methodology: The hybrid approach of ANP and TOPSIS was used to address the location selection problem. The ANP technique was employed to compute the weights of the selection criteria, whilst the TOPSIS was used to rank alternatives. The proposed approach was then applied into a fashion company in Vietnam to select the best alternatives to be the retail store. Results: The results showed that Candidate 1 - Hai Ba Trung street is the most appropriate selection for locating retail stores. Conclusions: The proposed approach provides the decision makers with more useful methods than traditional ones. Therefore, the model can be applied to the location selection in all industries. In terms of academic contribution, the selection criteria proposed in the research can devote to the literature in the selection of location along with the concept of distribution channels. Additionally, the research also provides insight and guidelines for firms in making decision on retail store location based on limited resources to avoid the waste of funds. However, the results only answer to the context of Vietnam - a developing country. Thus, future research may be extended to developed countries where have better conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Operations and Management Science Society Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.464-486
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• 2008

Purpose. Electronic intermediaries (e-intermediaries) are gaining significance in international marketing with the rapid development of e-commerce. The goal of this study is to explain empirically what leads to a higher use of this relatively new exportation alternative. Relying on a resource-based view as our research foundation, we focus on information technology (IT) and non-IT factors as possible determinants. Further, this study brings arguments offered by transaction cost theorists to explain the other non-IT determinants. Methodology/Approach. Data are collected from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the electronic industry in Korea and the U.S to ensure generalizability. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression is utilized to analyze the data. Findings. This study raises new issues regarding a relatively new type of exporting channel, e-intermediary. Exporting is regarded as the most appropriate strategy for SMEs in international commerce. A number of SMEs stay away from exporting due to limited resources or lack of knowledge regarding foreign markets. The findings in this study should help SMEs use e-intermediaries more widely by developing appropriate IT-related resources (IT-related human and relationship assets) and dealing with non-IT factors (international competence, environmental uncertainty, and duration of relationship) effectively. Originality/Value/Contribution. This study illustrates the significant role of e-intermediaries, which may help SMEs to penetrate the global market effectively. Finding relevant sources in the global e-marketplace is a challenge for non-experienced users like SMEs. This study proposes e-intermediaries as an effective alternative for them. Another contribution of this study is to show how the use of indirect exporting channels, e-intermediaries, decrease costs in exporting transactions. This study suggests an e-intermediary as a hybrid exporting channel to balance risk and profit.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.99-124
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• 2006

The purposes of the study are two-folds. First, it analyzes how factors other than price(e.g. delivery service, saving point policies, free gifts) impact total price for various products and different types of stores. Second, it analyzes how to increase market efficiencies through price level, price differences, and the frequency of price changes for different shops, various products and different types of transactions. By analyzing the price level within different types of stores, there found that prices at on-line store were lower than off-line shops. It also found price differences between pure on-line, hybrid, and off-line store. Comparing prices by product size, there found that pure on-line shops have a lower price compared to others. The results showed that on-line store had lower price variation compared to off-line shops. When comparing pure on-line store to hybrid store, hybrid store had lower price variation. In terms of the frequency of price changes, hybrid stores had higher price fluctuations. In terms of total price differences for delivery distances, pure on-line store had great price fluctuation, excluding cosmetic goods. In conclusion, if we consider price level and price fluctuations, on-line store had more efficiencies and was superior in terms of price effectiveness. Hybrid shops, on the other hand, had greater advantages for seasonal goods and dominant products. Therefore, market entry strategies should differ based on order quantity, type of store(pure on-line, hybrid, off-line), product characteristics(seasonality, product life), etc.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.77-110
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• 2017

Recently, the diversification and individualization of consumption patterns through the web and mobile devices based on the Internet have been rapid. As this happens, the efficient operation of the offline store, which is a traditional distribution channel, has become more important. In order to raise both the sales and profits of stores, stores need to supply and sell the most attractive products to consumers in a timely manner. However, there is a lack of research on which SKUs, out of many products, can increase sales probability and reduce inventory costs. In particular, if a company sells products through multiple in-store stores across multiple locations, it would be helpful to increase sales and profitability of stores if SKUs appealing to customers are recommended. In this study, the recommender system (recommender system such as collaborative filtering and hybrid filtering), which has been used for personalization recommendation, is suggested by SKU recommendation method of a store unit of a distribution company that handles a homogeneous brand through a plurality of sales stores by country and region. We calculated the similarity of each store by using the purchase data of each store's handling items, filtering the collaboration according to the sales history of each store by each SKU, and finally recommending the individual SKU to the store. In addition, the store is classified into four clusters through PCA (Principal Component Analysis) and cluster analysis (Clustering) using the store profile data. The recommendation system is implemented by the hybrid filtering method that applies the collaborative filtering in each cluster and measured the performance of both methods based on actual sales data. Most of the existing recommendation systems have been studied by recommending items such as movies and music to the users. In practice, industrial applications have also become popular. In the meantime, there has been little research on recommending SKUs for each store by applying these recommendation systems, which have been mainly dealt with in the field of personalization services, to the store units of distributors handling similar brands. If the recommendation method of the existing recommendation methodology was 'the individual field', this study expanded the scope of the store beyond the individual domain through a plurality of sales stores by country and region and dealt with the store unit of the distribution company handling the same brand SKU while suggesting a recommendation method. In addition, if the existing recommendation system is limited to online, it is recommended to apply the data mining technique to develop an algorithm suitable for expanding to the store area rather than expanding the utilization range offline and analyzing based on the existing individual. The significance of the results of this study is that the personalization recommendation algorithm is applied to a plurality of sales outlets handling the same brand. A meaningful result is derived and a concrete methodology that can be constructed and used as a system for actual companies is proposed. It is also meaningful that this is the first attempt to expand the research area of the academic field related to the existing recommendation system, which was focused on the personalization domain, to a sales store of a company handling the same brand. From 05 to 03 in 2014, the number of stores' sales volume of the top 100 SKUs are limited to 52 SKUs by collaborative filtering and the hybrid filtering method SKU recommended. We compared the performance of the two recommendation methods by totaling the sales results. The reason for comparing the two recommendation methods is that the recommendation method of this study is defined as the reference model in which offline collaborative filtering is applied to demonstrate higher performance than the existing recommendation method. The results of this model are compared with the Hybrid filtering method, which is a model that reflects the characteristics of the offline store view. The proposed method showed a higher performance than the existing recommendation method. The proposed method was proved by using actual sales data of large Korean apparel companies. In this study, we propose a method to extend the recommendation system of the individual level to the group level and to efficiently approach it. In addition to the theoretical framework, which is of great value.