Does electronic commerce as a new distribution channel cause disintermediation or reintermediation or both?

Tomislaw Dalic

• Publisher: GRIN Verlag
• Year: 2004
• Edition: 0
• eBook ISBN:
  9783638245371
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Marketing
• Index: Business

Seminar paper from the year 2001 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: very good, Maastricht University (Faculty of Economic and Business Administration (FdEWB)), language: English, abstract: "Electronic commerce is an emerging concept that describes the process of buying and sellingor exchanging of products, services, and information via computer networks includingInternet."(Turban, Lee, King and Chung, 2000). Electronic commerce, or short e-commerce, promised many benefits and golden opportunities often described by terms like business-tobusiness(B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C). Those terms are now often used incommercials and advertisements. After only a short while new terminology was invented todescribe the new opportunities of e-commerce. The old terms lost their impressiveness muchtoo fast. Venture capital was readily available to finance business models described by peer-topeer (P2P) and consumer-to-business (C2B). The online world but also their financial partnersfound themselves in the middle of hype.One of the great effects predicted was an effect named disintermediation. This termdescribes according to Chaffey, Mayer, Johnston and Ellis-Chadwick (2000) the removal ofintermediaries. The former linkages between customers and companies like brokers ordistributors are replaced by the electronic channel. The picture some dot.com entrepreneurspainted was one of a world without travel agencies, toyshops, electronic retailers and otherintermediaries.Disintermediation caused some mid-sized channe l relationship earthquakes after arebellion from the intermediaries. Resellers of the Apple's I-Mac gave Steve Jobs at apresentation in Paris, Europe a hard stand. Mr. Case was there to inform retailers aboutAppel's newest PC model. His announcement, that the I-Mac will be exclusively available viathe Internet for an introduction period of four weeks, created whistle blowing and tumultsamong the resellers. The upset intermediaries feared that this four weeks were just a try outfor their uncertain future (Stein, 2000). It comes at no surprise that intermediaries rebelled ascompanies tried to shortcut them with the help of electronic commerce. Another example ofdisintermediation is Steven King, who tried to sell a new book via the Internet. He put the firstchapters online for free and would only write further chapters if most people would pay him.The project called 'The Plant" ended not successfully. Stephen King discontinued his trialbecause the percentage of paying customers dropped with every chapter (Der Spiegel, 2000). [...]