Pratiques et trajectoires de la grande distribution dans le commerce alimentaire sur Internet. Vers un autre modèle de coordination pour le commerce électronique ?

The adjustment between supply and demand was characterized in mass retailing by the display of an exhaustive, competitive and comparable offering of products with clearly-defined and visible characteristics. Adjustment between this supply and demand was framed by an irregular, indirect, impersonal and statistical relationship with customers. The tensions that we observed with the development of e-commerce show the emergence of a very different model. Economies of variety are substituted for economies of scale, in a context of individual, personal and ?continuous?? customer relations, heavily equipped in means of communication and set in a framework of personalizable goods and services. In this model based on the capture of a volatile audience, the market ?heats up?? as consumer preferences and product qualities are reshaped with each transaction, but coordination is constantly threatened by this volatility which is both external and incorporated to electronic adjustments. Classification JEL : D30, D12, L81, L86, Z10