To: Oliver Schonrock who wrote (3180 ) 2/27/1999 8:24:00 PM From: Maurice Winn Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 29987
Oliver, you asked: //2. When you sell them on the web what happens to our partners margins that they are supposed to make? They might not like this and I think we all agree that one of G* strengths over I* and others is its intelligent and cooperative approach to distribution of its services through existing major SPs// As long as interests are parallel, there is no problem. Hyundai, which has a monopoly on service in New Zealand, could take orders via the Web auction system or via a shop of their own with sales people demonstrating handsets which are kept in stock. It would be up to sales people to try to get customers to buy from them instead of just ordering direct from the Web site. Sales people can forget the old 100% margins that retailers believe is their due. Retailers need to be sharper these days and manage their businesses differently since the Web is coming ready or not. No more selling one handset a week from a mirror-lined illuminated, locked display case to a yuppie. Well, there would still be room for that - but it would be a small channel. Any businesses which try to 'protect' their high margin retail chain of excess costs will find they lose custom to businesses which know how to provide gadgets to people at low prices and at service levels the customer wants. The idea of a cosy high-priced co-operative is a way of losing customers, not gaining them. The shop-based retailer might be unhappy about the Web competition. Bad luck for them! If they were to provide what the customer wants, the Web site would be dead and the shop flat out, full of customers. The fear of the retailer would be that people would check the product out at the shop with the sales person spending time on them, then order from the Web or second hand market at a cheap price. That is a problem and the retailer needs to contract with prospective customers to provide the service if it is too big a problem. Maybe that's a new way of retailing and nobody does it. Well, they'd better get used to it! They could offer a Johny-on-the-spot service agency, a second hand market, a training centre, a repeat business discount, friends and family discounts, after sales service and advice...all sorts of things to add value and make potential customers prefer to deal with them. Website buyers would have to pay separately at the shop if they wanted any of this stuff. Maurice