Retailer Information Power — The Channel Marketing Information System

One lesson of the 1970s was that the power and influence of retailers and distributors is a highly significant factor in many practical marketing situations. Currently, however, the nature of retailer power is in the process of changing as a result of new information technology, which has the effect of increasing dramatically the existing structural advantages of retailers in access to marketing information. This article considers the sources of informational power for retailers, predicts the nature of retailer information strategies and develops a model of the marketing information system which transcends the organisational boundaries of a single firm — the channel marketing information system. The objective of this discussion is to attempt to clarify the possible responses to retailer information advantage, both tactically in the short term, but also rather more importantly at a strategic level in the longer term.