Breakout Strategies for Emerging Markets: Business and Marketing Tactics for Achieving Growth

7. Reinventing Reach

Emerging markets are lands of great contrast. In the previous chapter, we emphasized the importance of companies being able to leverage existing distribution options in such countries. In this chapter we acknowledge the rapidly modernizing retailing landscape that is turning the distribution mantra from “location, location, location” to “procurement, possession, and convenience.” Even as emerging-market customers continue to use traditional channels, new channels are also becoming integral to their lives and are leading to a change in shopping habits. Unlike in the West where modern retail has existed for decades, in emerging markets it is a very recent phenomenon. As a result, the brand-new construction there reflects more ...