The increased availability of customer information coupled with new media technologies have created an environment of discontinuity, whereby new marketing opportunities are created at an ever-increasing pace. New media can also accelerate the time frames of marketing activities, particularly direct marketing. Processes that required weeks to months can be collapsed to days and hours. This has implications for the staffing and management of critical functions, including product sourcing, order processing, customer service and promotion analysis. New media stress back-end delivery and inventory management skills.
New media have the potential to create significant disintermediation effects.
Through new media, companies are now able to communicate and sell directly to customers. Corporate size is relatively less important with new media. The importance of building strong brand-name recognition is heightened with new media. Strong brand names enhance the marketer's ability to draw consumers into their new media stores. More importantly, leveraging the brand name can be an effective mechanism to counteract the bypassing effect of manufacturers trying to sell directly to consumers, as well as the effects of multiple competitors being able to easily enter the market.