Research On Marketing Channel Conflicats In The Age Of E-commerce

With the rapid development of internet, the electronic commerce(e-commerce) channel has becoming increasingly sophisticated. Some e-commerce enterprises that with high reputation and powerful service capabilities, including Taobao, Jingdong, and Suning, have begun to treat e-commerce channel as the main business channel. However, there are large differences between e-commerce channel and traditional off-line channels. When targeting the same market, companies will face huge conflicts between e-commerce channel and traditional off-line channels. So one interesting and important question is to examine how companies deal with such conflicts and achieve successful development.To answer this question, we chose to examine how two Chinese typical household electric appliance companies that is Haier and Changhong deal with such conflicts. First, we elaborated the background of channel conflicts and pointed out that the conflicts between e-commerce channels and traditional off-line channels has threaten the development of many household electric appliance companies and we should propose an effective solution as soon as possible. Then, we have done great literature review about channel conflicts. In particular, we highlighted the concept of marketing channel conflicts, the reasons leading to such channel conflicts, the potential influences on companies’ development, and all kinds of solutions. Third, we depicted the current development of e-commerce channels and traditional off-line channels in household electric appliance industry, and emphasized the underlying reasons leading to the conflicts between e-commerce channels and traditional off-line channels. Finally, based on the analysis of Haier and Changhong’s ways to solve channel conflicts, we proposed a comprehensive and practical solution to effectively solve the conflicts between e-commerce channels and traditional off-line channels.Our results show that e-commerce channels and traditional off-line channels will co-exist in very long time and companies need to fully understand the necessity of developing e-commerce. When e-commerce channel becomes the main business channel, companies need to make specific and systematic development strategy for e-commerce and strategically deal with the conflicts between e-commerce channels and traditional off-line channels. In this thesis, we pointed out three channel conflict resolution strategies, including segmentation strategy, integration strategy, and segmentation & integration strategy, and identified a framework which clear shows how companies with differences resources and settled in different contexts choose such three channel conflict resolution strategies.Our results also show the current solutions that Haier and Changhong chose to solve the conflicts between e-commerce channels and traditional off-line channels. For example, Haier chose segmentation & integration strategy and Changhong mainly adopt segmentation strategy because its e-commerce channel is still in infancy. With the development of its e-commerce business, the top leaders in Changhong have started to make long-term strategy plan for e-commerce channels and they may engage in online-to- online(O2O) channels in the near future.To conclude, our study has examined an important question about how to deal with the conflicts between e-commerce channels and traditional off-line channels. By proposing a comprehensive and practical channel conflict resolution framework, this study has made novel contribution to the studies of channel conflicts and also brought practical implications for companies’ practices.