Market mapping and developing channel chains is a powerful technique recommended
by McDonald and Wilson (2002) for analysing the changes in a marketplace introduced by
the Internet. A market map can be used to show the flow of revenue between a manufac-
turer or service provider and its customers through traditional intermediaries and new
types of intermediaries. For example, Thomas and Sullivan (2005) give the example of a
US multi-channel retailer that used cross-channel tracking of purchases through assigning
each customer a unique identifier to calculate channel preferences as follow: 63% bricks-
and-mortar store only, 12.4% Internet-only customers, 11.9% catalogue-only customers,
11.9% dual-channel customers and 1% three-channel customers.
A channel chain is similar – it shows different customer journeys for customers with dif-
ferent channel preferences. It can be used to assess the current and future importance of
these different customer journeys. An example of a channel chain is shown in Figure 2.10.CHAPTER 2· THE INTERNET MICRO-ENVIRONMENT
Figure 2.9From (a) original situation to (b) disintermediation or (c) reintermediation or
countermediationIntermediaryCompany Customer(a)DisintermediationCountermediationCompany Customer(b)IntermediaryCompany Customer(c)Figure 2.10Example of a channel chain map for consumers selecting an estate agents
to sell their propertyWord-of-mouth Search engineMixed-mode journeyEstate agents
site
vs vsAt homePhone/e-mailSearch engineOnline journeyPortal:
RightmoveBook onlineE-mail/textLocal property
paperOffline journeyGo to agentsAt homeMonthly letterAwareness
of agentSearch and
select agentsNegotiationViewings
feedback