Although the Korean conventional market has been the most useful distribution channel for thousands of years, due to only decades of environmental and product changes, its authority had to be taken over to other distribution channel. The life cycle of ...
Although the Korean conventional market has been the most useful distribution channel for thousands of years, due to only decades of environmental and product changes, its authority had to be taken over to other distribution channel. The life cycle of this distribution channel could be shortened more in the future. That is, the cycle that the most efficient existing distribution channel is converted to other distribution channel due to environmental changes could be shortened even faster.
It is similar to the phenomenon, like the product life cycle, that substitutes make existing goods disappear from the market. Due to introduction of new distribution channel having opposing power, efficient distribution channel and consumers’ behavior are constantly changing. This constant change requires periodical studies on distribution channel and consumers. Thus, the purpose of this study is examine the effect of consumers’ characteristic on specific distribution channel selection, by grasping consumers’ basic nature and cognition characteristic, and their relationship with distribution channel selection.
This study investigated the relationship between consumers’ demographic characteristics including age, gender, job, and income level, with distribution channel selection, and especially the main factors of distribution channel selection, that is, an amount of one purchase, distribution channel use persistence, and whether they prefer a specific distribution channel when they choose products. It tried to examine the relationship between the elements that consumers’ consider important when they select distribution channel, that is, support/maintenance/reliability, spatial convenience, price, diversity, service, and product perception, and distribution channel, and based on the results, suggest distribution channel policies for companies.