Online Retailing - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 Sep 2003
News

Alumni Navigator Takes Off

Staying in touch with the School’s network of 65,000 graduates just got a lot easier. Directory search, the most popular feature on the Alumni Web site, now uses the same cutting-edge technology that powers searches on Barnes & Noble.com, IBM.com, and other major View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

06 Mar 2018
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, March 6, 2018

versus Posted Prices in Online Markets By: Einav, Liran, Chiara Farronato, Jonathan Levin, and Neel Sundaresan Abstract—Auctions were very popular in the early days of internet commerce, but today online... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jun 2017
News

Case Study: Something New

expertise in various parts of a complex supply chain and high efficiency (to keep lead times down and costs manageable). But that is valuable precisely because it is difficult and thus very hard to replicate. —Ankur Daga (MBA 2005) What makes this View Details

Keywords: April White

Profile

John Speer

that’s how I trained for the B-2.” John’s FIELD 2 experience in Brazil opened up an entirely new challenge as well. His assignment: an online shoe retailer, Dafiti.com, looking for a customer-loyalty program appropriate for its national... View Details

25 Feb 2020
News

How Artificial Intelligence is Changing Business

algorithms to analyze radiology scans, applying quantitative analytics to marketing movies, and analyzing sales data from an online flash retail site to develop a better pricing model. The teaching and... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

13 May 2014
Op-Ed

The Alibaba Effect

great online giants. “Alibaba's only limits are those imposed by the speed at which these enterprises continue to grow” Still largely unknown in the West, Alibaba dominates China's Internet and logistics space with over 600 million... View Details

Keywords: by Bill Kirby & Warren McFarlan; Retail

02 Feb 2015
Research & Ideas

Disruptors Sell What Customers Want and Let Competitors Sell What They Don’t

expensive merchandise with a limited wear life. PriceGrabber is a decoupler, too. Traditional consumer electronic retail stores depend on customers to come to their showrooms and tire-kick TVs and sound systems before buying. But the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

01 Mar 2012
News

Learning to Speak the Language of Business

companies with a commanding presence in their home markets. But to call Mikitani’s company, Rakuten, the Amazon.com of Japan would overlook fundamental differences for customers and merchants alike. “We created a real online marketplace... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; e-commerce; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Miscellaneous Store Retailers

31 May 2023
Research & Ideas

With Predictive Analytics, Companies Can Tap the Ultimate Opportunity: Customers’ Routines

than customers who don’t use the service as part of a routine, the authors find. “Services from streaming video to online retailing might profit from using the model because detailed data can be closely... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Transportation

08 Jan 2025
News

Mapping Pain Points at the IRS

Having spent a decade helping retailers optimize customer service, Fumi Tamaki (MBA 2014) could not pass up the opportunity in June 2024 to take on the challenge of improving the customer experience at the government organization that serves more Americans annually... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Myers; IRS; customer service; government service; Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support; Government

22 Dec 2022
Blog Post

Climate Stories Episode #13: Democratizing Climate Returns - Nisha Desai (HBS 1997), Founder and CEO of Invest With Intention

don’t have enough capital to invest in the best deals. Why don’t we have the ability to get the same returns as infrastructure limited partnerships or banks or private equity firms?” Here’s the thesis: Nisha has found only two managed funds focused on climate specific... View Details

Profile

Cristina Ros Blankfein

of brainstorming because it really speaks to joy and celebration.” What are the biggest challenges for BeMixed now? The metric that is most important is sell through. Once we have our retail locations and our View Details

20 May 2025
Blog Post

How Student-Proposed Internships Can Create Value

businesses. After hearing Anine Bing’s founders speak at HBS’s Retail & Luxury Goods Conference, Jessica Zukhovich (MBA 2024) was struck by their entrepreneurial journey and the brand’s rapid growth. Inspired by what she heard, she... View Details

01 Dec 2017
News

Ask the Expert: Human Intelligence

(PLDA 15, 2013) SESERI: E-commerce—and retail, more broadly—is one of the areas that will benefit the most from AI. It will enable retailers to provide much better experiences to consumers. For instance, AI will be able to predict what I... View Details

Keywords: April White

21 May 2025
Blog Post

Mentorship in Action: When an HBS Student Proposes a Project

HBS’s Retail & Luxury Goods Conference, Jessica Zukhovich (MBA 2024) was struck by their entrepreneurial journey and the brand’s rapid growth. Inspired by what she heard, she saw a unique opportunity—and took the initiative to pitch... View Details

17 Apr 2023
Blog Post

Climate Stories Episode #14: Bonita Stewart (MBA 1983) – A Career Devoted to Creating the Future

unfolding of consumer driven automotive online retailing at Chrysler and in the 2000s, I followed the allure of the wild, wild, web at Google. Today, I sit at the precipice of AI (artificial intelligence)... View Details

11 Dec 2006
Research & Ideas

Fixing Price Tag Confusion

rental charge and a charge for the remote. Do partitioned prices help the consumer make an informed decision or just add to his or her confusion? Do partitioned prices increase demand? Is an online grocer better off presenting a customer... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

23 Oct 2019
News

A Bid for the Future

When Stephen Moret (MBA 2001) first read of Amazon’s search for a second headquarters in the Wall Street Journal, he was certain the newspaper had made a typo. The online retailer couldn’t be talking about... View Details

Keywords: Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development; Government

29 Apr 2021
News

Equal Partner

angel investor, and a senior advisor at Republic, an online investment platform, Aditya certainly had the necessary expertise to identify and foster promising founders. But she had to wonder, “Why me? Why now?” She recalls asking a... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Inclusion

22 Nov 2016
First Look

November 22, 2016

the complex regulatory environment that governs Indian gaming. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51932 Fall 2016 Manufacturing & Service Operations Management The Impact of Supplier Inventory Service Level on View Details