Un Workshop Franchise & Commerce en Réseau aura lieu le mercredi 14 octobre 2015 de 12h15 à 13h15 en Salle du Conseil à l’IGR-IAE Rennes. Thierry Pénard et Hélène Coda-Poirey présenteront un papier intitulé "Search Online – Purchase Online in Franchising".
Abstract
Many retailers use the Internet not only to provide final customers with information about their products/services but also to allow these final customers to buy their products/services online. In the particular case of franchising, franchisors and franchisees can create their own website, which may raises some issues, mostly in terms of uniformity and encroachment. The aim of this paper is to offer a new perspective on the issue of ecommerce in franchising by studying the strategic choice of a franchisor to develop a transactional website and to provide tools or services either to search information (e.g., description of the products/services, pictures, zoom option, other customer ratings) or to purchase online (e.g., promotion codes, online payment, delivery options). Why are some franchisors’ websites more “search oriented” ? What are the factors that influence the provision of informational tools and transactional tools ? We find that the age of the franchise system as well as the percentage of company-owned stores (i.e., the balance of power between the franchisor and its franchisees) are the main determinants to explain the intensity/range of content and tools to “search online" and to “purchase online”.
Keywords
Franchising, ecommerce, encroachment, synergies, search online, purchase online.