Country Market Collection: A Case of Channel Conflict

Abstract

Ashton Thyme's, an upscale furniture boutique in Athens, Georgia, has been granted exclusive territory to sell antique-reproduction furniture from Country Market Collection. But a customer has found the same Country Market Collection products Ashton Thyme's carries for a lower price online. The customer offered Ashton Thyme's the opportunity to match the online price, which the manager declined. This situation prompts an angry call from the manager to the owner of Country Market Collection, arguing that sales to websites infringe on Ashton Thyme's exclusive territory rights. Excerpt UVA-M-0942 Nov. 9, 2017 Country Market Collection: A Case of Channel Conflict In March 2011, Samantha Hodges, owner of Country Market Collection, a maker of antique-reproduction furniture, received a phone call from Jill Turnberry, a manager from Ashton Thyme's, an upscale furniture boutique in Athens, Georgia, one of Country Market Collection's biggest and longest-standing customers. Turnberry was not happy that one of Ashton Thyme's customers had just told her that he found Country Market Collection furniture cheaper at an online retailer. Like most of Country Market Collection's customers, Ashton Thyme's enjoyed rights to an exclusive distribution territory that covered Athens through Atlanta, where Ashton Thyme's operated two new stores. Even worse, from Turnberry's perspective, was the fact that Country Market Collection had agreed to let the customer pick up the furniture directly from a distribution center in Augusta, thereby saving the shipping charge and making the online purchase that much more attractive. . . .