Why channel conflict matters
Every added channel is reach purchased with friction: retailers drop brands whose website undersells them, marketplace pricing wrecks negotiated wholesale terms, and customers learn to arbitrage the gaps. Heads managing multi-channel growth spend real energy here, because the conflict compounds quietly until a key account calls angry.
Managing the peace
- Price architectureMAP policies and consistent street prices across channels
- Assortment splitsExclusives and variants giving each channel its own turf
- Role clarityWhich channel exists for reach, which for margin, which for relationship
- Data honestyKnowing which channel actually created the demand being fulfilled
Questions
Should a brand undercut its retailers on its own site?
Only if it’s chosen retail’s exit: partners monitor brand sites, and sustained undercutting converts distribution into a countdown. Most brands hold identical street prices and compete on their own site with service, bundles, and exclusives instead of the number.
Is channel conflict ever worth accepting?
When the strategy says so: brands deliberately shrinking wholesale to go direct accept the conflict as transition cost. The failure is accidental conflict, channels fighting because nobody decided their roles, not the deliberate kind.