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(817)
- News (194)
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- Events (8)
- Multimedia (5)
- Faculty Publications (275)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(817)
- News (194)
- Research (548)
- Events (8)
- Multimedia (5)
- Faculty Publications (275)
- Article
The Cost Structure, Customer Profitability, and Retention Implications of Self-Service Distribution Channels: Evidence from Customer Behavior in an Online Banking Channel
By: Dennis Campbell and Frances X. Frei
This paper uses the context of online banking to investigate the consequences of employing self-service distribution channels to alter customer interactions with the firm. Using a sample of retail banking customers observed over a 30-month period at a large U.S. bank,... View Details
Keywords: Cost; Service Operations; Distribution Channels; Consumer Behavior; Internet and the Web; Banks and Banking; Technology Adoption; Service Delivery; Market Transactions; Market Participation; Profit; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States
Campbell, Dennis, and Frances X. Frei. "The Cost Structure, Customer Profitability, and Retention Implications of Self-Service Distribution Channels: Evidence from Customer Behavior in an Online Banking Channel." Management Science 56, no. 1 (January 2010): 4–24. (Lead Article.)
- March 2020 (Revised April 2020)
- Case
CarTrade
By: Rajiv Lal and Shreya Ramachandran
Vinay Sanghi, the founder and CEO of CarTrade, had been trying different business strategies to keep the company, which he founded in 2010 as an online marketplace for used and new cars, profitable and on track for growth. In a crowded and disorganized dealer... View Details
Keywords: Online Marketplace; Automobiles; Customer Base; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Financing and Loans; E-commerce; Digital Platforms; Digital Marketing; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; India; Mumbai
Lal, Rajiv, and Shreya Ramachandran. "CarTrade." Harvard Business School Case 520-088, March 2020. (Revised April 2020.)
- 05 Mar 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
The Impacts of Increasing Search Frictions on Online Shopping Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment
- October 2021 (Revised June 2022)
- Case
PittaRosso: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Pricing and Promotion
By: Ayelet Israeli
PittaRosso, a traditional Italian shoe retailer, is implementing an AI system to provide pricing and promotion recommendations. The system allows them to implement changes that would affect both the top of funnel and bottom of funnel activities for the company: once... View Details
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Pricing; Pricing Algorithm; Pricing Decisions; Pricing Strategy; Pricing Structure; Promotion; Promotions; Online Marketing; Data-driven Decision-making; Data-driven Management; Retail; Retail Analytics; AI; Price; Advertising Campaigns; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Digital Marketing; Budgets and Budgeting; Marketing Strategy; Marketing; Transformation; Decision Making; AI and Machine Learning; Retail Industry; Italy
Israeli, Ayelet. "PittaRosso: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Pricing and Promotion." Harvard Business School Case 522-046, October 2021. (Revised June 2022.)
- May 2021 (Revised February 2025)
- Teaching Note
Zara: An Integrated Store and Online Model (A) and (B)
By: Antonio Moreno and Anibha Singh
Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 620-073 and 620-074. View Details
Keywords: Stores; Integration; Operations; Business Model; Strategy; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Europe
- 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
Deighton, John, and Leora Kornfeld. "Instacart and the New Wave of Grocery Startups." Harvard Business School Case 515-089, April 2015. (Revised March 2017.)
- November 2017
- Teaching Note
Amazon.com, 2016
By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth
Teaching Note for HBS No. 716-402.
On January 28, 2016, Amazon announced record 2015 operating profits of $2.2 billion on $107 billion of sales, and the markets responded with cautious optimism. For years, founder and CEO Jeffrey Bezos had prioritized growth and... View Details
Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Retail; E-commerce; Amazon; Amazon.com; AmazonFresh; Jeff Bezos; Cloud Computing; Marketplaces; Streaming; E-reader Market; Digital Media; Mobile App; Online Retail; Shipping; Database; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Smartphone; Delivery; Market Platforms; Two-Sided Platforms; Competition; Internet; Corporate Strategy; Online Advertising; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Profit; Revenue; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Business History; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Books; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product Development; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Public Ownership; Work-Life Balance; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Integration; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Hardware; Information Technology; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Technology Networks; Technology Platform; Web; Web Sites; Price; Software; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Working Capital; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle
- December 2016
- Case
thredUP: Think Secondhand First
By: Thomas Eisenmann, Allison Ciechanover and Jeff Huizinga
In the fall of 2016, the management team at thredUP, the largest U.S. online retailer of second hand clothing, is deciding whether to expand into international markets. Over the past 12 months the 7-year-old startup, which had raised over $130 million in venture... View Details
Keywords: Scaling Start-ups; International Expansion; Online Consignment; Apparel; Internet and the Web; Expansion; Entrepreneurship; Global Strategy; Business Startups; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; San Francisco
Eisenmann, Thomas, Allison Ciechanover, and Jeff Huizinga. "thredUP: Think Secondhand First." Harvard Business School Case 817-083, December 2016.
- March 2021
- Article
Assortment Rotation and the Value of Concealment
By: Kris J. Ferreira and Joel Goh
Assortment rotation—the retailing practice of changing the assortment of products offered to customers—has recently been used as a competitive advantage for both brick-and-mortar and online retailers. We focus on product categories where consumers may purchase multiple... View Details
Keywords: Assortment Optimization; Retailing; Imperfect Information; Sales; Strategy; Consumer Behavior
Ferreira, Kris J., and Joel Goh. "Assortment Rotation and the Value of Concealment." Management Science 67, no. 3 (March 2021): 1489–1507.
- October 2021 (Revised March 2022)
- Supplement
PittaRosso: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Pricing and Promotion
By: Ayelet Israeli and Fabrizio Fantini
PittaRosso, a traditional Italian shoe retailer, is implementing an AI system to provide pricing and promotion recommendations. The system allows them to implement changes that would affect both the top of funnel and bottom of funnel activities for the company: once... View Details
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Pricing; Pricing Algorithm; Pricing Decisions; Pricing Strategy; Pricing Structure; Promotion; Promotions; Online Marketing; Data-driven Decision-making; Data-driven Management; Retail; Retail Analytics; Price; Advertising Campaigns; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Digital Marketing; Budgets and Budgeting; Marketing Strategy; Marketing; Transformation; Decision Making; Retail Industry; Italy
- March 2018 (Revised September 2019)
- Case
Chewy.com (A)
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Matthew G. Preble
In late 2013, Ryan Cohen, cofounder and CEO of online pet products retailer Chewy.com, faces a “bet the company decision”—whether to stay with a third-party logistics provider (3PL) for all of its e-commerce fulfillment or to take the function in house. Cohen worries... View Details
Keywords: Pet Food; Pet Products; Retail; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; Decision Choices and Conditions; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Florida; United States
Rayport, Jeffrey F., and Matthew G. Preble. "Chewy.com (A)." Harvard Business School Case 818-079, March 2018. (Revised September 2019.)
- March 2018
- Article
Scraped Data and Sticky Prices
By: Alberto Cavallo
I use daily prices collected from online retailers in five countries to study the impact of measurement bias on three common price stickiness statistics. Relative to previous results, I find that online prices have longer durations, with fewer price changes close to... View Details
Keywords: Online Data; Scraped Data; Sticky Prices; Scanner Data; Consumer Price Index; Price; Data and Data Sets
Cavallo, Alberto. "Scraped Data and Sticky Prices." Review of Economics and Statistics 100, no. 1 (March 2018): 105–119.
- June 2018
- Case
The Grommet in 2018
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Karen Gordon Mills and Lena Goldberg
The Grommet, an online product launch platform, was at the brink of scaling its business. The Grommet's daily launch and sale of innovative consumer products, using personal videos created by product makers, had led to its initial success. In 2014, the company launched... View Details
Keywords: Retail; Value Capture; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Product Launch; Value; Retail Industry
Applegate, Lynda M., Karen Gordon Mills, and Lena Goldberg. "The Grommet in 2018." Harvard Business School Case 818-132, June 2018.
- May 2023
- Article
Competition in Pricing Algorithms
By: Zach Y. Brown and Alexander J. MacKay
We document new facts about pricing technology using high-frequency data, and we examine the implications for competition. Some online retailers employ technology that allows for more frequent price changes and automated responses to price changes by rivals. Motivated... View Details
Keywords: Pricing Algorithms; Pricing Frequency; Commitment; Online Competition; Price; Information Technology; Competition
Brown, Zach Y., and Alexander J. MacKay. "Competition in Pricing Algorithms." American Economic Journal: Microeconomics 15, no. 2 (May 2023): 109–156.
- January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
- Case
Jumia's Path to Profitability
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Gamze Yucaoglu
The case opens in September 2019 as Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, co-founders and co-CEOs of Jumia, the leading Pan-African e-commerce platform, are contemplating the company’s path to profitability in the aftermath of a fragile investor sentiment, as the company... View Details
Keywords: Retail; Business Models; Business Model; Business Startups; Emerging Markets; For-Profit Firms; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Value Creation; Globalization; Entrepreneurship; Competition; Expansion; Logistics; Profit; Resource Allocation; Diversification; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Africa
Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, Pippa Tubman Armerding, and Gamze Yucaoglu. "Jumia's Path to Profitability." Harvard Business School Case 721-355, January 2021. (Revised March 2021.)
- July 2022
- Supplement
Solution for E-Commerce Analytics for CPG Firms (A): Estimating Sales
By: Ayelet Israeli
Keywords: Data Analysis; Data Analytics; CPG; Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG); Estimation; Online Channel; Retail Analytics; Retail; Retailing Industry; Data; Data Sharing; Bricks And Mortar; Ecommerce; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Sales; Goods and Commodities; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States
- February 22, 2023
- Article
How to Seed Organic Marketing in a Video-First World
By: Ayelet Israeli, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Matt Higgins
Early direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies relied on plentiful capital and low-cost digital marketing to power growth. But as this sector has matured, capital is more constrained, social media is more cluttered, and customer acquisition costs are rising. DTC companies... View Details
Keywords: Online Business; Ecommerce; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Omnichannel Retail; Omnichannel Retailing; Influencer Marketing; Consumer; Organic Growth; Video Advertising; Promotion; Celebrities; Online Advertising; Online Channel; Online Communities; Online Community; Go To Market Strategy; Platform; Media; Media Content; Digital; Digital Culture; Digital Influencers; Direct To Consumer Marketing; Direct-to-consumer; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Sales; Digital Platforms; Digital Marketing; Digital Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Internet and the Web; Advertising; Business Model; Growth Management; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Communication Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States; North America
Israeli, Ayelet, Leonard A. Schlesinger, and Matt Higgins. "How to Seed Organic Marketing in a Video-First World." Harvard Business Review (website) (February 22, 2023).