A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

countermediation

. A further example is Opodo (

www.opodo.com

) 

which was set up by nine European airlines, including Air France, BA, KLM and Lufthansa.

Reintermediation

The creation of new 

intermediaries between 

customers and suppliers 

providing services such 

as supplier search and 

product evaluation.

Countermediation

Creation of a new 

intermediary such as a 

publisher or comparison 

site by an established 

company. May be a new 

site or acquired through 

purchase or partnering.

Figure 2.7

Disintermediation of a consumer distribution channel showing (a) the 

original situation, (b) disintermediation omitting the wholesaler, and 

(c) disintermediation omitting both wholesaler and retailer

(a)

Producer

Wholesaler

Retailer

Consumer

(b)

Producer

Wholesaler

Retailer

Consumer

(c)

Producer

Wholesaler

Retailer

Consumer

Countermediation

‘The advent of e‑commerce means that 

marketers cannot rely on the online 

presence of existing intermediaries –  

instead they must create their own 

online intermediaries.’

Debate 2.1

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55

Chapter 2  Marketplace analysis for e‑commerce

Location of trading in the marketplace

Another perspective on the configuration of the marketplace relates to the position of trad‑

ing and relative strength between different players within the marketplace.

Berryman et al. (1998) created a useful framework for this, identifying three different 

types of location.  Seller‑  controlled sites are the main home page of the company and are 

e‑commerce enabled.  Buyer‑  controlled sites are intermediaries that have been set up so that 

the buyer initiates the  market‑  making. In procurement posting, a purchaser specifies what 

they wish to purchase, and a message is sent by email to suppliers registered on the system 

and then offers are awaited. Aggregators involve a group of purchasers combining to pur‑

chase a multiple order, thus reducing the purchase cost. Neutral sites are independent evalu‑

ator intermediaries that enable price and product comparison.

The framework of Berryman et al. (1998) has been updated by McDonald and Wilson 

(2002) who introduce two additional locations for purchase which are useful (Table 2.3).

We will see in Chapter 7 that the most successful procurement intermediaries are often 

those which are not independent, but are  seller‑  orientated or  seller‑  controlled.

As noted in Chapter 1, Evans and Wurster (1999) have argued that there are three aspects 

of navigation that are key to achieving competitive advantage online. These are Reach, 

Richness and Affiliation.

The importance of multichannel marketplace models

Online purchasers typically use a combination of channels as they follow their 

customer 

journeys

. As they select products and interact with brands, they do not use the Internet in 

isolation – they consume other media such as print, TV, direct mail and outdoor ads. It fol‑

lows that an effective approach to using the Internet is as part of a 

 multi  channel  marketing 

strategy

. This defines how different marketing channels should integrate and support each 

other in terms of their proposition development and communications based on their relative 

merits for the customer and the company.

Developing ‘channel chains’ to help us understand multichannel behaviour is a power‑

ful technique recommended by McDonald and Wilson (2002) for analysing the changes 

in a marketplace introduced by the Internet. A channel chain shows alternative customer 

Customer journey

A description of modern 

multichannel buyer 

behaviour as consumers 

use different media to 

select suppliers, make 

purchases and gain 

customer support.

Multichannel 

marketing strategy

Defines how different 

marketing channels 

should integrate and 

support each other in 

terms of their proposition 

development and 

communications based 

on their relative merits 

for the customer and the 

company.

Figure 2.8

From original situation (a) to disintermediation (b) and reintermediation (c)

Intermediary

Customer

Company

(a)

Disintermediation

Reintermediation

Customer

Company

(b)

Intermediary

Customer

Company

(c)

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