Enhancing customer value through click-and-mortar e-commerce: implications for geographical market reach and customer type

Firms continue to focus more attention on how to make use of the Internet for commercial purposes. Traditional firms are integrating their existing market channels and their online presence, into what is often called click-and-mortar e-commerce. In this paper we will discuss how click-and-mortar e-commerce generates synergies and customer value, and what implications it has for the type of customers and the geographical market a firm serves. The analysis of eighteen Dutch firms from a variety of industries has the following results. First of all, click-and-mortar e-commerce is used to strengthen relations with existing customers in geographical markets where firms are already active. Secondly, click-and-mortar firms are able to serve relocating customers and re-establish contact with customers who have moved away. Thirdly, click-and-mortar e-commerce can make it easier and less costly to make a purchase within a firm’s existing market, which may have the effect of bringing in new customers in that market. Contrary to the usual expectations for e-commerce, click-and-mortar e-commerce are to a lesser extent used to penetrate new, more distant geographical markets, nationally as well as internationally. The case studies also indicate that the degree of click-and-mortar e-commerce integration influences the way in which firms exploit synergies, as well as the possibilities to target different customers and geographical markets.