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In the marketing literature it is often argued that corporations should pay attention to the needs and wants not only of their own customers, but also to those of their customers' customers. This is often referred to as “the marketing concept”. The objective is to revitalize the marketing concept beyond the traditional levels of manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, customers and consumers in marketing channels.

Conceptual discussion and approach are undertaken.

The term “spherical marketing concept” is coined. This term connects the distinct upstream and downstream levels of marketing channels, as well as reconnecting their indistinct subsequent and preceding levels.

The dilemma with the common use of the marketing concept in the literature is that it fails to acknowledge the simultaneous connection of the components and interfaces between the upstream and downstream distinct levels from the start to the end of the marketing channels with the reconnection of the components and interfaces from the subsequent and preceding indistinct levels of the marketing channels. Further research efforts should be dedicated to bridge the start and end of distinct levels of marketing channels by way of the indistinct preceding and subsequent ones. Economic, social and ecological factors should be included.

It is not enough simply to match the supply and demand between the start and the end of marketing channels – a revitalization of the boundaries of the marketing concept towards a total circulation approach is necessary. Best practice tends to be more and more aware and skilful in this respect.

The spherical marketing concept contributes to pin‐point the importance of the seamlessness, sustainability and total circulation of components and interfaces in marketing channels. It also contributes to place current theories and practices in perspective for the future.

Besides having an important place in the daily lives of today’s consumers, technology impacts consumer behavior in variety of ways such as giving direction to their buying behavior, changing the characteristics that they expect from a product and the value they perceive, and influencing their satisfaction about the product. When omnichannel marketing is analyzed in this respect, it is an important issue that should be considered for the success of the marketing activities of the enterprises. This chapter will explain the single channel first and then multichannel marketing and omnichannel marketing concepts. The potential effects of omnichannel usage on issues about consumer behavior such as brand loyalty, customer satisfaction, perceived brand value, and buying behavior will be explained in detail. Then, the characteristics of the consumers using omnichannel and the factors affecting the success of these continents in terms of both consumers and businesses will be discussed. In this chapter, omnichannel marketing application examples will also be discussed in detail.

Allocating budget optimally to marketing channels is an increasingly difficult venture. This difficulty is compounded by an increase in the number of marketing channels, a rise in siloed data between marketing technologies, and a decrease in individually identifiable data due to legislated privacy policies. The authors explore the rich attribution modeling literature and discuss the different model types and approaches previously used by practitioners and researchers. They also investigate the changing landscape of marketing attribution, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different data handling approaches (i.e., aggregate vs. individualistic data), and present a research agenda for future attribution research.

Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insight and analysis into E-commerce in China and how it has revolutionized and continues to revolutionize business and society. Split into four distinct sections, the book first lays out the theoretical foundations and fundamental concepts of E-Business before moving on to look at internet+ innovation models and their applications in different industries such as agriculture, finance and commerce. The book then provides a comprehensive analysis of E-business platforms and their applications in China before finishing with four comprehensive case studies of major E-business projects, providing readers with successful examples of implementing E-Business entrepreneurship projects.

Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insights and analysis into how E-commerce has revolutionized and continues to revolutionize business and society in China.

The cost of customer acquisition is one of the largest expenses that service firms incur due to loss-generating quotes/proposals. This paper aims to connect interactive marketing communications channels with increased customer acquisition and non-interactive marketing communications channels with decreased customer acquisition by service firms.

Two field studies using hazard models were used to assess the probability of acquiring a new customer after the prospect first contacts the firm. Multiple discrete hazard models were used to compare channels against each other.

Three interactive marketing communications channels (word-of-mouth, online review forum, search engine optimization) increased the rate of acquiring a customer over time. I also compared non-interactive channels (billboard/signage, direct mail), but the analysis did not reveal any significant impact on acquisition rate by the non-interactive marketing communications channels.

The present study illustrates why the cost of acquisition is so high in the service sector and takes the unique step of linking interactive marketing communications channels with higher customer acquisition rates over time in a services context. Specifically, interactive marketing channels enable customers to find firms that offer the attributes that they seek, thereby increasing acquisition probabilities and decreasing acquisition costs.

Understanding the economics and dynamics of channel marketing systems is the keystone to implementing successful channel marketing strategies.

The purpose of this study is threefold: To compare many old and new media channels in terms of a range of attributes such as perceived intrusiveness, reliability, trustworthiness, convenience, and entertainment value. To compare the perceived relative effectiveness of alternative communication channels in terms of how a marketing proposition is evaluated by recipients and thus to establish whether some channels are better than others for achieving engagement and persuasion. To additionally survey the senders of marketing communications, to examine potential differences between how senders think recipients perceive each channel and what recipients actually perceive. Moreover, it is proposed that the survey be conducted in both consumer and business markets.

First, in a survey, the channels are compared from the perspective of both receivers and senders of marketing communications and additionally from that of consumer and business markets. Second, by means of experimentally generated scenarios, the paper assesses the relative effectiveness of the 11 channels in eliciting responses to two typical B‐to‐C and two B‐to‐B promotion offers.

The paper finds that, although e‐mail is well established and widely used, the traditional channels of television, radio, newspapers and direct mail retain their historically favored attributes of trust and reliability of information that make them still preferred by consumer recipients of marketing communications, even by “tech savvy” younger consumers who use e‐mail and SMS extensively. Business receivers are more accepting of e‐mail marketing communications than are consumers but, like consumers, they are more likely to act on a marketing offer if it comes through traditional mass media or mail channels.

The paper enables marketing managers to assess the relative benefits of a number of marketing communication channels.

Many studies have examined the use of social media by either customers or firms, especially in developed markets. However, little is known about why young individual entrepreneurs use digital channels (DCs) as business platforms in emerging markets (EMs) and how they integrate them into their marketing activities. This paper aims to try filling this gap.

Given the exploratory nature of this research, the authors employ a qualitative approach based on a focus group (12 participants) and semi-structured interviews (8 participants) with young entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia. The authors adopted a deductive thematic analysis based on pre-determined theoretical frameworks to analyse and interpret the data.

The authors found that the young entrepreneurs mainly used Instagram, Snapchat and, to a moderate extent, YouTube as digital marketing channels for advertising purposes. However, they used WhatsApp for establishing direct contact and personalising communication with customers. The entrepreneurs used these channels because they are useful, easy to use, cost-effective, fun and widely used by local customers. The authors also found that the entrepreneurs used social media and offline channels conjointly in three main marketing activities (communication/promotion, transactions and customer service) to boost the customer purchasing process. The complementarity of social media and offline channels was found to improve brand visibility, enlarge markets and strengthen the customer relationship. However, the achievement of these benefits varied across small firms depending on the entrepreneurs' abilities in coordinating multiple channels and according to the distinctiveness of their businesses.

This study contributes to the entrepreneurial literature by extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to explain the motives behind the use of DCs amongst individual entrepreneurs. Furthermore, this paper proposes a novel theoretical framework for studying the interaction between online and offline marketing channels during the purchasing process. Through this framework, the study provides new insights into channel coordination and multi-channel customer behaviours from the entrepreneur's perspective.

This study helps understand why small firms use different DCs. Likewise, it shows how young entrepreneurs coordinate online/offline channels in a complementary manner. The findings could also help in designing appropriate programmes encouraging young entrepreneurs to use online channels and social media to enhance their business activities.

This study offers a novel attempt at explaining the use of DCs and their interaction with traditional channels from the entrepreneur's perspective and brings new insights to why and how young entrepreneurs use DCs in an emerging market.

This paper presents a systematic method for classifying research on international channels of distribution. It is used to examine 79 articles published during an 18‐year period (1988‐2005). Based on content analysis, each article is classified by its primary research framework. Two frameworks are identified: (1) structural ‐ based on the economic and organizational aspects of international channels of distribution; and (2) behavioral ‐ based on the exchange relationship between channel members from different national environments. This simple organizing system offers a comprehensive way to analyze scholarship that has emerged in the field. For managers, it can bring the theoretical and practical developments together in an understandable fashion as they seek to interpret and apply research findings. For scholars, it may bring focus to an increasingly complex area of international business and guide future research efforts.