Publications

Article

Currency Unions, Product Introductions, and the Real Exchange Rate

By: Alberto Cavallo, Brent Neiman and Roberto Rigobon

We use a novel dataset of online prices of identical goods sold by four large global retailers in dozens of countries to study good-level real exchange rates and their aggregated behavior. First, in contrast to the prior literature, we demonstrate that the law of one... View Details

Keywords: Currency Union; Law Of One Price; International Prices; Global Firm; Currency Exchange Rate; Price; International Finance

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Article

Distance and Political Boundaries: Estimating Border Effects under Inequality Constraints

By: Fernando Borraz, Alberto Cavallo, Roberto Rigobon and Leandro Zipitria

The border effects literature finds that political boundaries have a large impact on relative prices across locations. In this paper we show that the standard empirical specification suffers from selection bias, and propose a new methodology based on binned-quantile... View Details

Keywords: Border Effects; Prices

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March 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

ASOS PLC

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Launched in 2000, ASOS was one of the world’s largest online fashion specialists in 2018. Focusing on young consumers aged 16–25 years, the company offered over 85,000 items on its websites, many times more than the largest fashion stores, and added several thousand... View Details

Keywords: ASOS; AsSeenOnScreen; Online Fashion; Online Apparel; Nick Beighton; Nick Robertson; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Online Retail; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Social Media; Marketplaces; Shipping; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Startups; For-Profit Firms; Customer Focus and Relationships; Age; Gender; Currency Exchange Rate; Profit; Revenue; Geography; Geographic Scope; Global Range; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business History; Selection and Staffing; Journals and Magazines; Human Capital; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Succession; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Social Marketing; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Vertical Integration; Segmentation; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; United Kingdom; England; London

10 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Why Are Prices So High Right Now—and Will They Ever Return to Normal?

70 large retailers using PriceStats, a firm Cavallo co-founded in 2010. In all, researchers examined nearly 2 million products sold online and in brick-and-mortar stores in seven countries, including more than 777,000 in the United... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

November 2021
Article

Ratings, Reviews, and the Marketing of New Products

By: Itay P. Fainmesser, Dominique Olié Lauga and Elie Ofek

We study how user-generated content (UGC) about new products impacts a firm's advertising and pricing decisions and the effect on profits and market dynamics. We construct a two-period model where consumers value quality and are heterogeneous in their taste for the new... View Details

Keywords: Online Reviews; Product Ratings; Social Networks; Word Of Mouth; Pricing; User-generated Content; Advertising; Product Marketing; Price; Consumer Behavior; Product Positioning; Social Media

July 2020
Teaching Note

Shindigz

By: Frank Cespedes

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 819-010. Shindigz sells party and celebratory items through its branded direct online channel, third-party retail and wholesale channels, and online marketplaces. Shindigz has for decades successfully executed a premium-priced branded... View Details

Keywords: Ecommerce; Pricing; Price; Strategy; Decision Making; Distribution Channels; Brands and Branding; E-commerce; Consumer Products Industry

August 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Reinventing Retail: ShopRunner's Network Bet

By: Benjamin Edelman and Karen Webster

ShopRunner considers adjustments to improve its online shopping service which offers no-charge two-day shipping as well as easy returns and other conveniences. Competitors' diverse pricing models and ancillary benefits raise questions about how to structure and price... View Details

Keywords: Shopping Club; Coop; Pricing; Shipping; Marketing Channels; Global Strategy; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry; United States; China

Web

Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business | HBS Online

other key dimensions, including price, length, and modality. CLIMB is a lower price point than most full-time MBA programs. CLIMB is approximately one year in duration, online, and asynchronous, whereas most full-time MBA programs are two... View Details

12 Apr 2022
Research & Ideas

Swiping Right: How Data Helped This Online Dating Site Make More Matches

objective criteria such as price or venue. But what happens when emotion fuels the process? Could it increase efficiency and engagement? Edward McFowland III, assistant professor at Harvard Business School, and his coauthors examine this... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

07 Apr 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Strategic Channel Selection with Online Platforms: An Empirical Analysis of the Daily Deal Industry

Keywords: by Lingling Zhang and Doug J. Chung; Retail

April 2015 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Instacart and the New Wave of Grocery Startups

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Instacart is testing an Uber-style solution to the challenge of building a home-delivered grocery business. It is backed by $220 million of venture funding. Will this model succeed where businessses like Webvan failed? What are the questions that this exploratory... View Details

Keywords: Food Retailing; Outsourced Grocery Delivery; Online Ordering; Dynamic Pricing; Data Analytics; Marketing Strategy; Food; Distribution Channels; Business Startups; Food and Beverage Industry; California

09 Dec 2015
Research Event

How Do You Predict Demand and Set Prices For Products Never Sold Before?

predictive and prescriptive analytics can be combined to develop a tactical decision-making tool that makes a big impact on the bottom line. For details about the research and the successful machine learning tool, see the paper “Analytics for an View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail; Apparel & Accessories

March 2007
Article

Internet Advertising and the Generalized Second Price Auction: Selling Billions of Dollars Worth of Keywords

By: Benjamin Edelman, Michael Ostrovsky and Michael Schwarz

We investigate the "generalized second-price" auction (GSP), a new mechanism used by search engines to sell online advertising. Although GSP looks similar to the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanism, its properties are very different. Unlike the VCG mechanism, GSP... View Details

Keywords: Auctions; Search Technology; Online Advertising; Strategy; Balance and Stability

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Web

The Spread and Adoption of Option Pricing Models - Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize Research of Robert C. Merton - Exhibits - Historical Collections

HBS Quick Links HBS Home MBA Executive Education Doctoral Programs Faculty and Research Alumni Publishing Site Index HBS Home Contact Us Map/Directions Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize... View Details

August 2016 (Revised August 2017)
Case

AnswerDash (Abridged)

By: Elie Ofek and Jeffrey D. Shulman

It is 2014 and AnswerDash, a startup backed by venture capital, has not seen the widespread adoption of their online self-service customer support solution that they were expecting based on early success in helping clients save and generate substantial amounts of... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Economic Value Estimation; Price Metrics; Organizational Selling; Innovation Adoption; Business To Business; Marketing; Customer Lifetime Value; Venture Capital; Customer Relationship Management; Price; Marketing Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Technology Adoption; Business Startups; Sales; Innovation and Invention; Product Marketing; Financial Services Industry

June 2016 (Revised August 2017)
Case

AnswerDash

By: Elie Ofek and Jeffrey D. Shulman

It is 2014, and AnswerDash, a startup backed by venture capital, has not seen the widespread adoption of their online self-service customer support solution that they were expecting based on early success in helping clients save and generate substantial amounts of... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Economic Value Estimation; Price Metrics; Organizational Selling; Innovation Adoption; Business To Business; Marketing; Customer Lifetime Value; Venture Capital; Customer Relationship Management; Price; Marketing Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Technology Adoption; Business Startups; Sales; Innovation and Invention; Product Marketing; Financial Services Industry