Can multimarket competition theory explain why manufacturers are reluctant to adopt e-commerce ? The case of the French household appliances’ manufacturers

Madeleine Besson (1, 2) , Bernard Bourdon (3)

1 LITEM - Laboratoire en Innovation, Technologies, Economie et Management (EA 7363)
2 IMT-BS - MMS - Département Management, Marketing et Stratégie
3 IRG - Institut de Recherche en Gestion

With turnover of more than €51 billion in France in 2013, e-commerce continues to grow, both in volume and number of players. While economic theories suggest that manufacturers should integrate intermediation functions as soon as they are able to perform them at a lower cost than external operators, few French manufacturers are engaging in e-commerce. In this research, we explore why manufacturers of household appliance do not launch e-commerce sites. Our results suggest that, in accordance with multimarket competition theory, they do so in order to avoid coercion from the traditional French distribution system.

Mots clés: Cross channel; Strategic marketing; Theory of multimarket competition; E-commerce; Channel management; Multipoint competition; Manufacturer/distributor relationship; Electronic appliances

Domaines: Gestion et management

Madeleine Besson, Bernard Bourdon. Can multimarket competition theory explain why manufacturers are reluctant to adopt e-commerce ? The case of the French household appliances’ manufacturers. EAERCD 2015 : 18th International Conference on Research in the Distributive Trades of the European Association for Education and Research in Commercial Distribution, Jul 2015, Rennes, France. ⟨hal-02387337⟩