TENDENCIES OF DEVELOPING THE SUPPLY CHAINS IN MULTI-CHANNEL DISTRIBUTION

Abstract

Managing the supply chains (SCM) is the subject of various analyses of the operational managers concerning the strategies of managing and integrating of different activities in the realization of processes and operations for achieving an operationally efficient and economical delivery. The multi distributive channels are becoming more and more complex and they demand the most rational management strategy to be chosen. Different strategic approaches show that most of the organizations perform the delivery by two or more channels at the same time. Goods are sent to many buyers by more channels, especially in the case of e-trading, in the organization of 3PL or as a still classical process. A few organizations are on ‘the edge’ and they want to develop a way for acquiring new technologies while some are bound to wait to see the market positions, only once accepting a new solution which proved to be successful. Most organizations delay when accepting new solutions because, when using the old solutions, they gain an advantage over their competition which is delayed in development. Most distributors (82%) offer retail as the primary way of giving service. Besides, more than a half of them (56%) sell their products via the website, almost half (47%) covers the wholesale market, while a smaller part (25%) offers the traditional direct approach to the users by a catalogue or by mail. It isn’t quite clear which strategy is the best for users and distributors because each strategy has both its advantages and disadvantages.