Publications

Find at Harvard

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

Read Now

22 Feb 2016
Video

Retail Sector at HBS

April 2009 (Revised December 2015)
Case

Dot.com: Online Pet Retailing

By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen

From 1995 to 1999, the U.S. experienced a period of tremendous growth in its information technology (IT) sector. The IT industry, although it accounted for less than 10% of the U.S. economy's total output, contributed disproportionately to economic growth. One market... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Price Bubble; Growth and Development Strategy; Failure; Competitive Strategy; Online Technology; Retail Industry

2018
Working Paper

Need for Speed: The Impact of Website Performance on Online Retail

By: Santiago Gallino, Nil Karacaoglu and Antonio Moreno

The share of e-commerce sales is rapidly increasing and so are the associated losses generated by website outages and slow websites. We leverage novel retail and website performance data to investigate the impact of website performance on online sales. This question is... View Details

Keywords: Online Retail; Quasi-experiments; Abandonment; Synthetic Control; Internet and the Web; Performance; Service Operations

SSRN

19 Dec 2018
News

Online Retailers Aim to Shake Up the Wedding Market

Keywords: online retail; weddings; fashion; e-commerce; Retail Trade

1999
Chapter

Retail Banking

By: F. Frei, P. Harker and L. Hunter

Keywords: Commercial Banking; Banking Industry

11 Dec 2014
News

Fashion's Retail Revolution

Áslaug Magnúsdóttir (MBA 2000) in the New York office of Tinker Tailor, her new online couture business. When HBS first turned a scholarly eye to retail in the early 20th century, department stores were king. Institutions like Filene’s... View Details

Keywords: April White; fashion; Leather and Allied Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Finance

28 Mar 2011
News

Future of India's Retail Market

India: The Future of Retail

India: The Future of Retail – Panel Discussion co-hosted by CNBC and Virtuous Retail, a Xander investee company View Details

July 2015 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Ron Johnson: A Career in Retail

By: Das Narayandas, Joshua D. Margolis and Ryan Raffaelli

In April 2013, Ron Johnson (HBS '84) stepped down after just 18 months as CEO of J.C. Penney. In his brief tenure, Johnson, an acclaimed retailer respected for his innovation and success in shaping the retail image at Target and Apple, introduced dramatic departures... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Leadership Development; Legal Industry; Procurement; Professional Service Firms; Pricing; Organizational Behavior Modification; Change Management; Innovation Leadership; Situation or Environment; Failure; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Competition; Retail Industry; United States

March 2017 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Walmart: Navigating a Changing Retail Landscape

By: Michael E. Porter and Jorge Ramirez-Vallejo

As the largest company, by revenue, in the world, Walmart has been a lightning rod for criticism. However, in an attempt to stay ahead of traditional and digital retailers, and keep customers satisfied with evolving demands, the company is strengthening its competitive... View Details

Keywords: Shared Value; Strategy; Department Stores; Sustainability; Social Responsibility Of Business; Value Creation; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Retail Industry

1996
Book

Strategic Retail Management

By: D. E. Bell and W. J. Salmon

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry

Find at Harvard

2004
Chapter

Globalization of Retailing

By: Rajiv Lal, David E. Bell and Walter J. Salmon

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Retail Industry

December 1998
Case

Retail Financial Services in 1998: Travelers

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Takia Mahmood

Provides an overview of Travelers Group's current strategy for retail financial services. Retail Financial Services in 1998 should be given to all students as background material. The class should then be split into groups, with each group receiving one of the... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Industry Structures; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry

Fast Answer

Retail tracking data

Where can I find retail tracking data from NPD? We don't have databases specifically of retail and chain store POS data, such as are available from NPD. However, our market research databases will often... View Details

09 Jan 2019
Video

Interning in the Retail Sector

June 2020 (Revised May 2022)
Case

Vanguard Retail Operations (A)

By: Willy C. Shih and Antonio Moreno

The first two cases in this series are set in the financial services industry, and explore whether it is better for back-office workers to be generalists who provide the flexibility of being able to handle the complete range of transactions that the company faces or... View Details

Keywords: Pooling; Generalist Model; Specialist Model; Operations; Service Operations; Management; Job Design and Levels; Financial Services Industry; United States