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Vol. 5, No. 1, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30525/2256-0742/2019-5-1-131-136

THE ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM  
OF MARKETING COMMODITY POLICY*

Alona Natorina1

Abstract. The purpose of the article is to substantiate theoretical and methodological fundamentals of the formation 
of adaptive system for managing the marketing commodity policy through the example of online retailers, as 
well as to analyse results of approbation of conceptual model of adaptive management system of marketing 
commodity policy in practical activities of Ukrainian online retailers in various market segments. Methodology. 
Within the research, activities of Ukrainian online retailers were considered and analysed depending on their 
sphere and specialisation. Methodological basis of the study is comprised of the system of general scientific and 
special methods, namely: dialectical method of scientific cognition; methods of system analysis; methods of cause-
and-effect analysis; methods of comparative analysis; multidimensional statistical methods. Based on the results 
of the research conducted, the author has developed a conceptual model of adaptive system of management of 
marketing commodity policy of online retailers, the main goal of which is to form adaptive management system 
of marketing commodity policy of online retailers as a central reference point in the identification of marketing 
commodity strategy needed to be implemented, which mostly influences long-term sustainable functioning of 
online retailers in the market by means of the fullest satisfaction of typical demands, needs, and preferences of 
the target audience and occasional online buyers along with irrational online orders. List of components of the 
marketing environment, which have quantitative and qualitative character and different degree of impact on the 
activities of online retailers depending on their belonging to a certain market segment, is determined. Mechanism 
of adaptive management of marketing commodity policy of online retailers is proposed that is oriented to 
revealing the integrity of the process in the context of permanent changes in the market situation; is directed 
to providing a high-quality level of management of online activity of retailers. Practical importance. Based on the 
results of the approbation of conceptual model of adaptive management system of marketing commodity policy 
of Ukrainian online retailers in different segments, it is determined that its implementation in online activity of 
retailers contributes to their effective functioning and sustainable long-term development, in particular, by means 
of adjusting reference points of management of marketing commodity policy, and results into improving the 
process of making rational strategic decisions and substantiating tactical measures of implementation. Practical 
application of the mechanism of adaptive management of marketing commodity policy of online retailers promotes 
the implementation of a sound variant of achievement of their strategic goals. Value/originality. Implementation of 
the developed adaptive management system of marketing commodity policy may ensure effective performance 
and sustainable development of online retailers in the future, in particular, by means of relevant changes in the 
management of marketing commodity policy.

Key words: marketing commodity policy, adaptive management system of marketing commodity policy, adaptive 
management mechanism, online retail.

JEL Classification: M16, M31, L81

Corresponding author:
1 SSI “Institute of Educational Analytics”, Ukraine.
E-mail: a.natorina@iea.gov.ua
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6367-879X

1. Introduction
Today, despite the presence of bifurcations in 

the transformational economy and the permanent 
changes in the marketing environment, it is possible 

to state the high online activity of enterprises both at 
the international and national levels, in particular, on 
the territory of Ukraine, as a result of the introduction 
of innovative methods of doing business, application 

* The publication contains the results of studies conducted by the grant of the President of Ukraine for competitive projects F75 of the State 
Fund for Fundamental Research



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of benchmarking, and implementation of active 
marketing policy to attract new market segments to 
online purchasing of goods, as well as implementation 
of a set of measures to expand the existing target 
audience. In the conditions of a market economy, the 
priority tasks of enterprises operating in the Internet 
space are the rational organization and conduct of 
online trade, which is relevant to the requirements and 
demands of consumers, ensuring of stable competitive 
advantages of enterprises in the Internet space by an 
instantaneous adequate response to market changes 
and the simultaneous formation of key factors of success 
in the industry, the expansion of the market niche due 
to the constant adjustment of marketing commodity 
policy. That is why marketing commodity policy is a key 
element in promoting the commercial success of online 
activities of enterprises in the short and long term, given 
the intensity of competition and the constant change in 
consumer preferences in the market.

The issue of the identification of an adequate 
marketing commodity policy for Internet businesses, 
its change in accordance with the specifics of online 
business activities and implementation are important 
for the online activities of the enterprise and are solved 
according to the results of monitoring and evaluation of 
the effectiveness of the management system of marketing 
commodity policy of enterprises. The complication and 
high dynamism of factors of the marketing environment 
predetermine the need to develop an adaptive system 
for managing the marketing commodity policy of 
enterprises, which is one of the determining factors of 
competitiveness in the Internet space.

Therefore, the purpose of the article is to substantiate 
theoretical and methodological fundamentals of the 
formation of adaptive system for managing the marketing 
commodity policy through the example of online 
retailers, as well as to analyse results of approbation of 
conceptual model of adaptive management system of 
marketing commodity policy in practical activities of 
Ukrainian online retailers in various market segments.

2. The current state of the issue
Works of foreign scientists and economists are devoted 

to the study of the specifics of online retailers’ activities, 
among them are: S. Brown and D. Roth (Brown, Roth, 
2017), Guinn J. (Guinn, 2017), Masayuki A. and 
Hitoshi  S. (Masayuki, Hitoshi, 2014). Well-known 
scholars and economists were involved in the research 
of the marketing commodity policy management 
system of online retailers, including: Lambin J-J. and 
Schuiling  I. (Lambin, Schuiling, 2012), Lehmann D. 
and Winer R . (Lehmann, Winer, 2010), Porter M. 
(Porter, 2008). However, given the rapid growth of 
Ukrainian retail and the need to find ways to optimize 
the management process of online retailers’ marketing 
commodity policy, it still remains relevant.

Managing the marketing commodity policy of 
online retailers should be mainly focused not on 
solving existing problems but on the use of existing 
opportunities and strengths, that is, should be based 
on the adaptive approach, which involves the use of 
organizational changes of the existing potential of the 
online retailer and the identification of its reserves 
as the basis, which led to increased attention to 
economic and mathematical methods and models in 
the analysis of marketing activities of the enterprise. 
After all, the very use of mathematical models gives 
better and more reliable results than matrix ones.  
The application of economic and mathematical methods 
and models in marketing is considered in the works 
of foreign and domestic scientists, such as Davnis V. 
and Tiniakova V. (Davnis, Tiniakova, 2006), Danko T. 
and Skorobohatykh I. (Danko, Skorobogatykh, 2005), 
Lepa M. (Lepa, 2002).

The solution to the problem of multidimensionality 
and ambiguity of economic processes and phenomena 
is the methods of multidimensional analysis. The study 
of the issue of applying methods of multidimensional 
analysis to substantiate economic phenomena was 
undertaken by researchers such as Aivazian S., Bezhaeva 
Z. and Staroverov O. (Aivazian, Bezhaeva, Staroverov, 
1974), Kozhushko O. (Kozhushko, 2010), Sablina N. 
and Telychko V. (Sablina, Telychko, 2009).

Without reducing the importance of the research in 
the given direction, it should be noted that the issue 
of the formation of an adaptive management system 
of marketing commodity policy currently requires 
a theoretical and methodological solution.

To substantiate theoretical and methodical principles 
of the formation of an adaptive management system for 
marketing commodity policy, the activities of Ukrainian 
online retailers were investigated depending on their 
field of activity and specialisation. As a methodological 
basis for the formation of an adaptive system for 
managing the marketing commodity policy of online 
retailers, a system of general scientific and special 
methods was used, namely: dialectical method of 
scientific cognition – to study fundamental principles 
of defining the guidelines for marketing commodity 
policy of online retailers; methods of system 
analysis – to establish structural relationships between 
the effectiveness of the marketing product strategy of 
online retailers at the functional level and the chosen 
marketing product strategy; methods of cause-and-
effect analysis – to identify the place and role of adaptive 
system for managing the marketing commodity 
policy of online retailers; methods of comparative 
analysis – to compare performance indicators of 
the online retailers under study; multidimensional 
statistical methods – to determine the root causes of 
the formation of a management system for marketing 
commodity policy. The information-factual basis of the 
study was the works of domestic and foreign specialists 



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in the field of marketing, as well as original materials of 
marketing researches worked out and summarized by 
the author in person.

3. Principles of formation  
of an adaptive management system  
for marketing commodity policy

Feature of adaptive system for managing the marketing 
commodity policy of online retailers is the possibility of 
changing its constitutive attributes through the expansion 
or abandonment of a certain list of factors of marketing 
environment that directly or indirectly influence the 
marketing commodity policy of online retailers and, 
as a consequence, predetermine the review of the 
expediency of continuing to follow the current strategy in 
accordance with specific market conditions of operation. 
Adaptive system for managing the marketing commodity 
policy of online retailers provides for the implementation 
of flexible marketing policy in Internet space given the 
inversion of macroeconomic processes in the modern 
changing business environment due to monitoring and 
analysis of the degree of influence of the factors on online 
activities of retailers for their further adjustment.

According to the results of research of international 
and domestic experience of functioning of online 
retailers under the active digitalisation, the article 
substantiates a conceptual model of adaptive system for 
managing the marketing commodity policy of online 
retailers, the implementation of which will contribute 
to improving their performance and guarantee the 
stability of operation in Internet space (Figure 1).  
As Figure 1 shows, a conceptual model of the adaptive 
system for managing the marketing commodity policy 
of online retailers includes three structural blocks, 
namely: theoretical provision, information-analytical 
and organisational support, practical implementation. 
Theoretical provision forms a foundation of a conceptual 
model of the adaptive system for managing the marketing 
commodity policy of online retailers. Components 
of this block of conceptual model are in close 
cooperation with the block of information-analytical 
and organisational support and vice versa. Information-
analytical support includes two components – analysis 
and collection of information, which in turn provides 
for conducting a number of interrelated actions, 
including: collection and preparation of necessary data; 
identification of analysis methods for understanding of 
data, formation and test of hypotheses; analysis of a way 
of making a sound decision on the formation of adaptive 
system for managing the marketing commodity policy 
of online retailers. Therefore, information-analytical 
support requires the use of analytical data for increasing 
the solution accuracy.

Due to the use of analytical information, it becomes 
possible to ensure information richness of decisions. 
The actual use of analytical data, which consider 

market and economic uncertainty, allows online 
retailers to make timely and sound decisions. Analysis 
of decisions is agreed upon by permanent check and 
further improvement of decision-making efficiency. 
Implemented decisions require constant monitoring of 
their efficiency.

Within the organisational support, two components 
can be distinguished – processing and evaluation.  
The first component is a set of means needed for effective 
transformation of analytical information. It may include 
typical computer application program packs, typical 
structures of online retail management. Evaluation, which 
is the second component, is carried out according to the 
results of internal and external information analysis.

The main purpose of the conceptual model provides 
for compliance with certain criteria:

1. Flexibility. The criterion reflects how fast online 
retailers can change their online activity, which will ensure 
the implementation of an updated marketing commodity 
strategy. Flexibility influences the degree of the strategy’s 
reflection in the actions of online retailers. Without 
flexibility, online retailers are not able to consistently 
implement a new strategy without a long-term transition 
period. Actually, online retailers risk never achieving 
a strategic goal, if changes in the strategy take place faster 
than online retailers can respond. In order to minimise the 
value of lost opportunities and maximise the flexibility of 
online activities as a whole, the decision must change. The 
flexibility of this decision – both the speed of identifying 
opportunities for improvement and the readiness with 
which they can be changed – is provided by its marketing 
commodity strategy.

2. Speed. Making an optimal decision on the 
formation of an adaptive system for managing the 
marketing commodity policy of online retailers and 
determination of the direction of marketing commodity 
policy is possible at a certain time.

3. Efficiency. Proper determination of the state of the 
adaptive system for managing the marketing commodity 
policy of online retailers will allow avoiding heavy 
marketing costs, as well as improving the productivity 
of their online activity.

Digitalisation forces online retailers to more 
optimise making sound decisions at different stages of 
hierarchical levels of management. They are obliged 
to qualify these decisions as corporate assets. So, the 
concentration of online retailers’ efforts on making 
sound decisions on the formation of an adaptive 
system for managing the marketing commodity policy 
envisages its consideration as corporate assets, which 
means the following characteristics:

1. Strategic importance. Corporate assets are strategic. 
Recognition of the process of making a sound decision of 
the functional level as important for activities of online 
retailers is a guarantee that the formation of an adaptive 
system for managing the marketing commodity policy 
is of strategic importance.



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2. Variability. Making a sound decision on the 
formation of an adaptive system for managing 
the marketing commodity policy is based on the 
consideration of several scenarios of online retailers’ 
activities in the implementation of the appropriate 
marketing commodity strategy, taking into account 
changes in the business-building environment.

3. Accessibility. Corporate assets must be accessible if 
its correct use is planned. Online retailers should realize 

that corporate assets are a tool of competitive struggle 
and subject-matter of reporting and analysis. Provision 
of accessibility of making a sound decision provides 
for the management of decision-making systems in the 
same way as the management of other elements of the 
enterprise infrastructure, preservation of information 
about the decision by using special technologies, and 
ensuring standard use of these technologies and helper 
methods in online retail.

 

І. Theoretical provision

Complex, structural, system, process, logical

Adaptive system for managing the marketing commodity policy of online 
retailers as a set of interrelated and interdependent constitutive attributes, which is 
one of the key factors that increase the level of competitiveness of online retailers
in the Internet space

Goal

Flexibility, speed, effectiveness

Dialectical method of scientific cognition; methods of system analysis; methods 
of cause-and-effect analysis; methods of comparative analysis; methods of 
analysis and synthesis; expert evaluation methods; multidimensional statistical 
methods; mathematical modelling in economics

Adequacy, determinancy, manageability, integrity, synergism, relevance to 
marketing environment, ontogenesis, holism, equifinality

ІІ. Information-analytical and organisational support

Object

Subject-
matter

Criteria

ІІІ. Practical support

Collection Processing Analysis Evaluation

Mechanism of adaptive management of marketing commodity policy of online 
retailers that gives a complex presentation of the condition of the system for 
managing the marketing commodity policy and allows developing a set of 
successive actions and measures for the further successful operation of online 
retailers in the Internet space

Strategic importance, variability, accessibility, dynamism, integratedness

Formation of adaptive system for managing the marketing commodity policy of 
online retailers as a central guideline in the identification of marketing commodity 
strategy needed to be implemented, which mostly influences long-term 
sustainable functioning of online retailers in the market by means of the fullest 
satisfaction of typical demands, needs, and preferences of the target audience and 
occasional online buyers along with irrational online orders

Subject

Approac
hes

Principles

Methods

Characte
ristics

Internal users

Figure 1. A conceptual model of the adaptive system  
for managing the marketing commodity policy of online retailers



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4. Dynamism. Adaptive system for managing the 

marketing commodity policy of online retailers 
provides for the monitoring and review of factors 
influencing it, which is preceded by a number of 
facts: market, demands, needs, preferences of online 
purchasers, actions of competitors in the Internet space 
are not static; a decision is not endlessly optimal in the 
changing marketing environment; internal changes in 
the activity of online retailers are constant.

5. Integratedness. Data integration results into making 
weighted decisions. The sense of a conceptual model 
of the adaptive system for managing the marketing 
commodity policy of online retailers is to identify the 
relationship between factors influencing it and define 
possible positive and negative changes caused by these 
factors.

It is important to note that within the conceptual 
model of adaptive system for managing the marketing 
commodity policy of online retailers, the author has 
developed a mechanism of adaptive management 
of marketing commodity policy of online retailers 
that gives a complex presentation of condition of the 
system for managing the marketing commodity policy 
and allows developing a set of successive actions and 
measures for further successful operation of online 

retailers in the Internet space. This mechanism provides 
for the process of decomposition of decision-making 
in the process of formation of an adaptive system for 
managing the marketing commodity policy of online 
retailers, namely – the division of the process into 
subsequent stages, the condition of each of which is the 
consideration of all factors of influence on the activity of 
online retailers.

4. Findings
According to the results of the approbation of 

a conceptual model of the adaptive management system 
of marketing commodity policy of online retailers, it is 
determined:

1. List of components of the marketing environment, 
which have quantitative and qualitative character and 
different degree of impact on the activity of online 
retailers depending on their market segment (Figure 2).

According to Fig. 2, Сqt and Сql ∈ СО, where:
Сq = {C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7};                                  (1)
Сql = {С1, С2, С3, С4, С5, С6, С7, С8, С9, С10, С11, С12}. (2)
2. The developed conceptual model of the adaptive 

management system of marketing commodity policy 
of online retailers provides for dynamic and quick 

 

Components of 
influence on the 

system of 
management of 

marketing 
commodity 

policy of online 
retailers 
(СО)

Figure 2. Components of influence on the system of management of marketing commodity policy of online retailers

Notes: СО – components of influence on the system of management of marketing commodity policy of online retailers; Сqt – components of 
quantitative measurement: C1 – site rating in Ukraine, С2 – bounce rate, С3 – daily page views per visitor, С4 –visitors’ daily time spent on site, 
С5 – range width, С6 – range depth, С7 – availability of obsolete goods in the total number of varieties of goods; Сql – components of qualitative 
measurement: С1 – customer orientation, С2 – integration with the category management system of goods and their development strategy, 
С3 – balance of realization of goods, С4 – product rationalization, С5 – product mix stability, С6 – assortment renewal level, С7 – product mix 
consistency, С8 – product mix policy consistency, С9 – availability of regular customers, С10 – use of marketing elements in the product mix 
formation, С11 – product mix positioning level, С12 – strategic attractiveness of product portfolio of the enterprise.



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response of online retailers in various segments to 
changes in demands, needs, and preferences of the 
target audience and occasional online buyers along with 
irrational online orders, actions of priority competitors, 
and continuous transformation economic processes.

3. The proposed mechanism of adaptive management 
of marketing commodity policy of online retailers is 
oriented to revealing the integrity of the process in the 
context of permanent changes in the market situation; is 
directed to providing a high-quality level of management 
of online activity of retailers. Practical application of 
the mechanism of adaptive management of marketing 
commodity policy of online retailers promotes the 
implementation of a sound variant of achievement of 
their strategic goals.

5. Conclusions
A conceptual model of the adaptive system for 

managing the marketing commodity policy of online 
retailers is developed; it includes three structural 
blocks – theoretical provision, information-analytical 
and organisational support, practical implementation. 
The main goal of the conceptual model is to form 
adaptive management system of marketing commodity 
policy of online retailers as a central reference point 
in the identification of marketing commodity strategy 

needed to be implemented, which mostly influences 
long-term sustainable functioning of online retailers in 
the market by means of the fullest satisfaction of typical 
demands, needs, and preferences of the target audience 
and occasional online purchasers along with irrational 
online orders.

Based on the results of approbation of conceptual 
model of adaptive management system of marketing 
commodity policy of Ukrainian online retailers in different 
segments, it is determined that its implementation in 
online activity of retailers contributes to their effective 
functioning and sustainable long-term development, 
in particular, by means of adjusting reference points 
of management of marketing commodity policy, and 
results into improving the process of making rational 
strategic decisions and substantiating tactical measures 
of implementation.

Further research will be aimed at developing 
econometric model of adaptive management system 
of marketing commodity policy of online retailers, 
which will take into account components of marketing 
environment, identified in this study, that have 
quantitative and qualitative character of measurement, 
and the use of which will result in the formation of 
product portfolio of online retailers that corresponds to 
demands, needs, and preferences of online buyers to the 
fullest extent.

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