Buying a Ton of Bricks Online: Opportunities and Challenges of Digitalizing Complex Marketing Channels
(R2020-85313)

AUTHORS

Anna Hepp, Technical University of Munich

KEYWORDS

Channels; Digitalization; Business-to-Business

ABSTRACT

Marketing scholars have been calling for more conceptualizing research to account for the complexity of today’s marketing channels. Despite a wealth of research on digital marketing channels, gaps remain concerning the digitalization of complex marketing channels, involving business-to-business and business-to-consumer interactions. In this multiple-case study of six building material manufacturers, I induct a theoretical framework of three archetypes with different opportunities and challenges in their digitalization efforts. I integrate definitions from two fields of literature, marketing channel, and information systems research, and contribute to existing literature with a nuanced view of firms’ considerations in fragmented and interdependent marketing channels.