Hybrid Marketing Systems

In the history, many companies utilized a single channel to sell to a single market or market segment. Nowadays, with the propagation of customer segments and channel potential, more and more companies have adopted multichannel distribution systems-frequently called hybrid marketing channels. Such multichannel marketing take place when a single firm sets up two or more marketing channels to attain one or more customer segments. Use of hybrid channel systems has increased significantly in recent years.

Given figure shows a hybrid channel. In the figure, the producer sells to consumer segment one by using direct-mail catalogs and telemarketing and attain consumer segment 2 through retailers. It indirectly sells to business segment 1 through dealers and distributors and to business segment 2 through its own sales force.

Hybrid Marketing Channel

Hybrid channels offer various advantages to companies facing big and complicated markets. Having each new channel, the company expands its market and sales coverage and achieves opportunities to tailor its services and products to the particular needs of diverse customer segments. But such hybrid channel systems are difficult to control, and they produce conflict as more channels compete for customers and sales