Sales Channel - Publications - Faculty & Research

July 2020
Case

Amanda and Kristen: Mented Cosmetics

By: Steven Rogers, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Alterrell Mills

The co-founders (Black HBS alumnae) of an e-commerce beauty startup explore the unmet needs within the beauty industry. This case study examines the entrepreneurial opportunities that come from identifying an underserved market, specifically within the Black community... View Details

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October 2022 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Aphro Beverages

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Amram Migdal

This case focuses on distribution, sales, and product decisions as Aphro Beverages reaches an inflection point in its growth trajectory. In 2020, Aphro Beverages, based in Accra, Ghana, successfully launched its brand and brought two new alcoholic spirits products to... View Details

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01 Dec 2022
News

Singing to the Corn

throughout college and into HBS. That intensity has been channeled by mentors throughout Keen’s life. One such person is Deward Walker, who in 2007 challenged Keen with a question that has a recurring role in Sacred Seed’s origin story:... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; photographed by Vance Jacobs; Agriculture

23 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovative Ways to Encourage Personal Savings

essentially "raffle off" the interest pot each period. Savers give up a large chance of a small return for a small chance of a large, life-changing return. I have studied these programs in England, where they have been run for over 50 years, as well as in South Africa.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

21 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

The Pandemic Conversations That Leaders Need to Have Now

organization doesn’t seem psychologically safe, create venues for honest questions and ideas. Find a channel for people who have concerns they may not want to bring to their direct supervisors. In meetings, allow people to submit... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Robin Abrahams, and Katherine Connolly Baden

14 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restarting Under Uncertainty: Managerial Experiences from Around the World

client-centric approach. It intensified virtual interactions with customers, merged sales and customer service, and boosted integration of all databases, which had been spread across functions, into a single customer resource management... View Details

Keywords: by Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Bertoni, Alexia Delfino, Giovanni Fassio, and Mariapaola Testa

09 Jul 2018
Research & Ideas

Overcoming the Challenges of Selling Brand New Technology (Hey, Need a 3-D Printer?)

collateral design, launches the product, and then “throws it over the wall” to sales and marketing. “This process is product-centric and a bucket-brigade approach where the groups work serially and in silos in a rapidly changing tech... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology; Consumer Products; Electronics; Industrial Products; Information Technology; Manufacturing; Medical Devices & Supplies; Retail

04 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Predictions, Prophets, and Restarting Your Business

clear-cut. “A problem with megatrend predictions is that, even if they turn out to be generally accurate, they’re not managerially useful.” In the first month of social distancing in the United States, online sales at Walmart and Target... View Details

Keywords: by Frank V. Cespedes

2009
Working Paper

Crafting Integrated Multichannel Retailing Strategies

Multichannel retailing is the set of activities involved in selling merchandise or services to consumers through more than one channel. Multichannel retailers dominate today's retail landscape. While there are many benefits of operating multiple channels, these... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Sales; Integration; Retail Industry

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05 Dec 2007
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Managing Marketing

Cannibalizing Direct Sales? Working Paper: Adding Bricks to Clicks—The Effects of Store Openings on Sales through Direct ChannelsConsider a retailer who operates both brick-and-mortar stores and direct View Details

22 Jan 2001
Research & Ideas

Control Your Inventory in a World of Lean Retailing

perspective of actual consumer buying patterns, a blazer in an atypical size actually has more in common with a fashion-driven product than with the same style jacket in a popular size. For example, sales for 46-regular, one of the most... View Details

Keywords: by Frederick H. Abernathy, John T. Dunlop, Janice H. Hammond & David Weil; Consumer Products

30 Apr 2008
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Brand Management

disagrees. Key concepts include: Most B2B marketers cannot economically address thousands of small businesses using the traditional direct sales force. If left unattended, individual managers will each do their own ad hoc marketing. B2B... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Sports; Publishing; Auto

August 2018
Teaching Note

Magpie: Developing and Using Buyer Personas

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-013. Magpie is a startup with a platform that allows publishers to natively tag the products discussed in their content and thus allows consumers to purchase those products without needing to leave that publisher’s web page. A key aspect... View Details

Keywords: Buying Process; Marketing; Sales; Distribution Channels; Segmentation; Entrepreneurship; Social Media; Consumer Products Industry; Fashion Industry; United States

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29 Aug 2006
First Look

First Look: August 29, 2006

the firm-size distribution; controlling for level of economic development, regulation, institutional constraints, and other variables that might affect the business environment; and using different empirical specifications. We further explore various View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Aug 2000
Research & Ideas

Rocket Science Retailing

better supply chain management.For many of the retailers in our study, forecasting product demand is a right-brain function that relies on the gut feel of a few individuals and not on the systematic use of sales data. But it's a big... View Details

Keywords: by Marshall L. Fisher, Ananth Raman & Anna Sheen McClelland; Retail

17 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Where Did My Shopping Mall Go?

You want people to touch your product and actually get the brand experience. You could get to a point where stores like Best Buy become just showrooms and fulfillment is done by Amazon because they are much more efficient at it. I could envision a time when some of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

20 Dec 2004
Research & Ideas

How an Order Views Your Company

offer order management solutions and the corresponding efficiency that can then be gained by reallocating sales investments. Some small innovative firms like Comergent have taken it a step further. They offer an integrated demand chain... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston

August 1983 (Revised May 1985)
Case

Jamestown Co.

By: Benson P. Shapiro and Edward J. Hoff

In May 1983 Ms. Katherine O'Brien, vice president of marketing, was deciding whether Jamestown should discontinue the use of independent representatives in favor of a direct company salesforce. Jamestown sold informal stoneware dinnerware through department and gift... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Leadership Style; Marketing Channels; Salesforce Management

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18 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

Prosper with Multi-Channel Retailing

For decades, major retailers offered customers only two methods of purchasing: directly at the store or from catalogs sent through the mail. With the advent of the Internet, retail companies that offered only one or two channels suddenly... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Consumer Products; Retail