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 โ 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 2ยท THE INTERNET MICRO-ENVIRONMENT
Figure 2.9From (a) original situation to (b) disintermediation or (c) reintermediation or
countermediation
Intermediary
Company Customer
(a)
Disintermediation
Countermediation
Company Customer
(b)
Intermediary
Company Customer
(c)
Figure 2.10Example of a channel chain map for consumers selecting an estate agents
to sell their property
Word-of-mouth Search engine
Mixed-mode journey
Estate agents
site
vs vs
At home
Phone/e-mail
Search engine
Online journey
Portal:
Rightmove
Book online
E-mail/text
Local property
paper
Offline journey
Go to agents
At home
Monthly letter
Awareness
of agent
Search and
select agents
Negotiation
Viewings
feedback