The primary goal for this Ninth Edition, as reflected in the change in the title—from
Marketing Channel Strategy to Marketing Channel Strategy: An Omni-Channel Approach—
has been to create a completely repositioned, comprehensive, research-based,
readable, action-oriented guide for practicing managers and managers-in-training
with an interest in how to adopt and apply real-world omni-channel strategies. This
edition of the book is structured to provide background knowledge and process steps
for understanding, designing, and implementing high-performing omni-channel
strategies.
Many significant changes have been made to the Ninth Edition. A new
omni-channel strategy framework, introduced in Chapter 1, defines the structure
of the rest of this book, providing an approach that guides managers through the
steps necessary for developing and implementing an omni-channel strategy. We
offer a distinction between omni-channel and multi-channel strategies in this
chapter, outline the tasks and functions of channel members, and provide a snapshot of the various actors involved in a marketing channel ecosystem. This chapter
also addresses topics such as going to market with an omni-channel strategy and
the five trends driving the growth of omni-channels.