The Internet and the revolution in distribution: a cross-industry examination

Distributors and channels of distribution have existed since time immemoria l. Channels of distribution have existed to get products to consumers cheap er, faster, and more effectively. Distribution encompasses various types of activities, depending on the type of and point in the supply chain where v alue is added, A supply chain constitutes a set of activities ranging from production and manufacturing, to logistics, warehousing, transportation, an d final delivery of goods to the customer (Handfield RE, Nichols EL. Introd uction to supply chain management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1 999). Through their interactions with suppliers, manufacturers, and end cus tomers, distributors thus perform an important intermediary role in matchin g supply with demand. In this paper, the impact of the Internet on the value chain is discussed. In order to explore issues pertaining to this transformation in greater det ail, three industries that have been either radically altered by the Intern et, or that are facing tremendous challenges as they head into the future, are considered. They are (a) the retailing industry, (b) banking, brokerage and financial services, and (c) the music industry. The objective is to el icit the underlying managerial implications and imperatives through this cr oss-industry examination. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserve d.