Chapter 13, Problem 13.26C

Summary Introduction

Case summary:

The case deals with the changing conditions related to shopping of products. In early days the people of country U has to wait for days and months to get company S catalog which consisted of 800 pages the included offerings for homes. The present technology has changed the way of shopping which replaced the way of shopping.

Online vendors have started to collect information and track the buying patterns of their customers and predict their preferences. They started to develop algorithms to save the purchasing patterns of customers and store the products in their warehouses. Promotional strategies have changed drastically which made marketing possible at a micro-level.

E-commerce has opened new dimensions for shopping which has pushed many companies to open an online store to increase expand their business and operations. In 2017 company M has made an announcement to close its 100 stores and company J to close its 130 stores. Business is reaching its next level where many companies have to rely both on online and retail stores. Differentiation in business is increasing to attract a number of customers and customization has been adopted by many companies to show differentiation in their product and services.

To determine: Whether there will be a need for traditional stores if everything is available online and suggest ways for online retailers to be more competitive against traditional stores for items which people prefer to purchase from stores.