Toward a Framework for Assessing Internet Channels

The emergence of the Internet has forced a large number of firms to introduce Internet-based channels of distribution into existing distribution systems to market their products. In multiple channels context, there has been a call for better performance measures to assess whether channel management is productive. Unfortunately, little academic research has addressed key criteria to apply in determining the marketing channel performance. In order to fill in the literature gap, this research attempts to adopt Analytic Network Process (ANP) to identify and compare the key performance criteria of Internet channels on the basis of Strategic Profit Model (SPM). This study found that Return on Equity and Return on Total Assets are two most important criteria. This research helps managers to know the key criteria of Internet channels performance evaluation, which is much helpful for them to configure their improvement plans as they may not have sufficient resources to deal with all the dimensions at the same time.