Week Nine Exercises

Channel Conflict

Question One

There is a removal of traditional limitations of business and interaction between buyers and sellers has already changed. For example:
In the past there where the three L’s of retail sales, location, location, location. However, now there is no need for a retail outlet at all, and sellers can access buyers all over the world, via online shopping.
Buyers have a greater choice now, whereas in the past they were limited to what was available in their area, now they can compare price, quality and service from all corners of the globe.
Competition between sellers is also not limited to their area, and they now need to compete globally. Also, this can occur between retail outlets and online stores of the same brands. Competition is no longer reserved for between companies, but it now occurs within companies.


Question Two

Who owns the customer relationship? One would like to imagine (whichever side of the fence you are on) that you own the customer relationship. However, I still believe that at the end of the day, the buyer has ultimate control over the relationship, because they inevitably make the decision to buy or not to buy, and if they do who and how to buy the product or service.
However, in this sense I would imagine that if a company researches the habits of buyers and tabulates this information so as to be able to better market to their clients, then, they have full ownership of the customer relationship. It is not information that would be considered to be vitally sensitive thus requiring privacy law intervention. Therefore, I would surmise that if the individual companies take the time and effort to research this data, then it is their prerogative as to how to use it.


Question Three

If you purchase something from a retail outlet is it then ok for you to get email promotions or is it SPAM? This is a sensitive issue, and I personally feel that SPAM is one of the major blights on the Internet. I guess by releasing your information to these companies you have to some degree (sometimes unwillingly) given them permission to contact you. In my experience, I have found that the large majority of companies will offer you the option of being contacted in the future via email, and to me this is the best way for this sort of SPAM to be distributed. Also, I feel that random SPAM is useless, and personally, counterproductive, as I make a point of never using the products or services of a company that has sent me random SPAM that I have not authorized. If I have allowed the company to send me email offers, then I can accept that or reject it. The choice is still left up to the individual. My advice, use a SPAM filter.


Question Four

I believe that buying keywords is ingenious and should be applauded for its foresight. This is just marketing at its purest level, seeing an edge and taking it on. However, it can be a little frustrating when you are searching for a topic online that just happens to be a big brand, and it takes you ages to scroll through all the brand sites to get to what you need. I feel that buying keywords by companies is a little immoral though all the same, but I still say if the opportunity is there, you have to take it. The search engine providers are the ones that need to be asked this question. Do they believe that this practice is immoral? I bet they say it is fair game!

I never knew this:
Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coke_(fuel)