NONE: ONLINE-ADS>> The Role of the Middleman in E-Commerce
ONLINE-ADS>> The Role of the Middleman in E-Commerce
Randy Pickard (rpickard_at_peapod.com)
Wed, 8 Jul 1998 12:37:07 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
Richard,
Reading about all the multi-million dollar deals that
Internet retailers are cutting with the "portals" makes
me recall the Web prognosticators back in 1995
that were predicting the Web would spell the
death of the middleman. Guess they failed to take into
account the costs of customer acquisition, order and
product aggregation, customer service, and order
fulfillment. The Dell model of selling direct will continue
to be the exception, not the rule.
Why are Internet retailers spending millions to lock up
these "distribution" deals? One of the reasons is certainly
branding.
My guess is that the predictions in the current thread
about the end of mass market branding are as flawed as
the predictions about the death of middlemen. If anything,
the Internet will make branding even more
critical. If I can't touch, kick, or smell a product,
I'm going to be even more reliant on the brand name. Whether
it's the retailer's brand name (Amazon, Garden Escape) or
the manufacturer's (Dell), I want an assurance of quality
when I buy a product over the 'Net.
Randy
-----------------------------------------------------
Randall Pickard
Peapod. "America's #1 Internet Grocer"
http://www.peapod.com
StoogeNet. "Entertaining Lessons on How NOT to Market on
the Internet"
http://stoogenet.com
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