Marketing
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- 16 Oct 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Shipping Fees and Product Assortment in Online Retail
This study highlights a strong link between an online retailer’s product assortment decisions and shipping policies in determining purchase outcomes and profits. Consumers are less sensitive to shipping fees than to product prices, but free shipping for orders above the minimum is a strong motivator for increasing average basket sizes.
- 10 Oct 2018
- Research & Ideas
The Legacy of Boaty McBoatface: Beware of Customers Who Vote
Companies that encourage consumers to vote online should be forewarned—they may expect more than you promise, according to research by Michael Norton, Leslie John, and colleagues. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 27 Sep 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Large-Scale Demand Estimation with Search Data
Online retailers face the challenge of leveraging the rich data they collect on their websites to uncover insights about consumer behavior. This study proposes a practical and tractable model of economic behavior that can reveal helpful patterns of cross-product substitution. The model can be used to simulate optimal prices.
- 16 Jul 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
The Impact of Increasing Search Frictions on Online Shopping Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment
With even minor changes to the design of an online store, sellers may get more full-priced sales from price-insensitive shoppers. As shoppers spend more time on the website given higher search frictions, they may also be considering a larger set of products.
- 18 Jun 2018
- Research & Ideas
Warning: Scary Warning Labels Work!
If you want to convince consumers to stay away from unhealthy diet choices, don't be subtle about possible consequences, says Leslie John. These graphically graphic warning labels seem to do the trick. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 11 Jun 2018
- Research & Ideas
Why South Korea's Samsung Built the Only Outdoor Skating Rink in Texas
New research by Lauren Cohen and Umit Gurun finds that when some companies are sued, they put their advertising dollars to work in unusual ways to influence local juries. Meet 'TiVo,' the championship steer. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 07 May 2018
- Research & Ideas
Why Online Retailers Should Hide Their Best Discounts
Online retailers should take a tip from brick-and-mortar shops: Shove your best deals to the back of the store. Research by Thales Teixeira and Donald Ngwe. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 09 Feb 2018
- Research & Ideas
Big Hits: The Best of the 2018 Super Bowl Ads
Harvard Business School marketing experts Jill Avery, Stephen Greyser, and Thales Teixeira discuss the best ads and how they reflect American society. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 27 Nov 2017
- Research & Ideas
Beware the Lasting Impression of a 'Temporary' Selfie
Some social media apps promise to delete your messages after they are read. The problem: The memory of your uninhibited behavior lingers. Research by Leslie K. John and colleagues. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 19 Oct 2017
- Research & Ideas
How Charitable Organizations Can Thwart Excuses for Not Giving
Charitable organizations provide all kinds of reasons for donors to give money—but sometimes their messaging does just the opposite, shows research by Christine Exley. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 09 Oct 2017
- Research & Ideas
Fearing Fox News, Democratic-leaning Companies Delayed Negative Announcements
Jonas Heese and Vishal P. Baloria explore strategies used by companies to reduce the risk of potentially negative press, focusing on Fox News and the 2000 presidential election. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 18 Sep 2017
- Research & Ideas
'Likes' Lead to Nothing—and Other Hard-Learned Lessons of Social Media Marketing
A decade-and-a-half after the dawn of social media marketing, brands are still learning what works and what doesn't with consumers. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 12 Sep 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
The Better is the Enemy of the Good
Previous research has shown that individuals’ self-serving responses to information may arise when payoff information is subjective or uncertain. This study, in the context of charitable giving, shows that individuals’ ability to respond to payoff information in a self-serving way even includes situations when information is complete and certain.
- 24 Aug 2017
- Cold Call Podcast
Does Le Pliage Help or Hurt the Longchamp Luxury Brand?
Longchamp's iconic but affordable Le Pliage bag is a conundrum for the company, explains Jill Avery in this podcast. Does an affordable luxury product work against the top-tier brand? Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 26 Jul 2017
- Cold Call Podcast
The Revolution in Advertising: From Don Draper to Big Data
The Mad Men of advertising are being replaced by data scientists and analysts. In this podcast, marketing professor John Deighton and advertising legend Sir Martin Sorrell discuss the positives and negatives of digital marketing. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 10 Jul 2017
- Op-Ed
Op-Ed: It’s a Bad Idea to Ban Customers From Recording Videos
With videos of bad business practices routinely going viral, it might be tempting to prohibit customers from recording their surroundings. But banning cameras is the wrong way to go, says Benjamin Edelman. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 26 Jun 2017
- Research & Ideas
How Cellophane Changed the Way We Shop for Food
Research by Ai Hisano exposes cellophane's key role in developing self-service merchandising in American grocery stores, and how its manufacturers tried to control the narrative of how women buy food. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 05 Jun 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Cellophane, the New Visuality, and the Creation of Self-Service Food Retailing
Offering a visual perception of freshness, the expansion of cellophane packaging material dramatically altered how consumers understood food quality. This paper examines the importance of cellophane as “scientific” and “modern” in the early to mid-20th-century United States. It shows how business strategies helped shape, and were shaped by, cultural narratives about cellophane. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 24 May 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Reinventing the American Wine Industry: Marketing Strategies and the Construction of Wine Culture
Since the 1960s, the United States has seen spectacular growth in wine consumption. This paper explores how businesses reinveted the image of wine. This creation of the new market, like other consumer products, had social and cultural consequences. In the US, wine became a status symbol and a renforcer of social and class divisions.
How to Use Free Shipping as a Competitive Weapon
Free shipping is an increasingly important tool in the online retailer's marketing arsenal, but profit is lost when not done right, says Donald Ngwe. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.