Factors Determining Channel Selection in the German Trades Sector: An Analysis of Power Tool Purchases

Abstract

Revenues from E-commerce for businesses in the B2B sector are rising as part of multichannel marketing, the use of different information, communication, and revenue channels. This trend can also be observed in the market for power tools for professional use. The consumer goods sector has already been subject to far-reaching studies regarding the reasons for the choice between online and offline channels, including research in different phases of the purchasing process. In industrial goods marketing, by contrast, the reasons for this choice are less well known. Power tools belong to those product groups in the industrial goods sector that show clear parallels to B2C business.

The present study therefore takes approaches for investigating the determinants of channel selection from the B2C sector and applies them to the B2B sector. The study develops hypotheses on the reasons for the choice of channel based on inherent characteristics of various sales channels, the manifestation of channel-relevant shopping motives among customers and of course the final decision of the B2B customer for a certain channel. These are then tested using a discriminant analysis using customers of the brand Festool as an example.