carlballou Most industries are in major digital upheaval, but retail particularly seems in some kind of disruptive spin-cycle. As the retail season eneters its most crucial time of year, we take a deep breath to contemplate research from Harvard Business School on what retailers are doing to win.
Banning Big Box Stores Can Hurt Local Retailers
Research shows how regulations designed to protect independent retailers from big box competition may backfire.Empathy: The Brand Equity of Retail
Retailers can offer great product selection and value, but those who lack empathy for their customers are at risk of losing them.
Retailing Revolution: Category Killers on the Brink
Mass-market retailers, particularly big-box "category killers," are under critical pressure from online competitors.
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.
Should Retailers Match Their Own Prices Online and in Stores?
For multichannel retailers, pricing strategy can be difficult to execute and confusing to shoppers.
Can Amazon Do What Walmart Couldn’t, Stop the 'Wheel of Retailing'?
Is Amazon's growing retail power capable of breaking the "wheel of retailing" theory?
Retail Reaches a Tipping Point—Which Stores Will Survive?
E-commerce is about to deal severe blows to many familiar store-based brands.
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.
Research Papers
Dynamic pricing is widely applied in industries like airline ticketing, ride-sharing, and online retailing. This paper identifies two downsides of dynamic pricing: opportunistic returns and strategic choice of payment method.
Where Should We Build a Mall? The Formation of Market Structure and Its Effect on Sales
In spite of the recent surge in e-commerce, brick-and-mortar retail, specifically in the form of large-scale shopping malls, is still the dominant venue for consumer purchases in the developed world.
Large-Scale Demand Estimation with Search Data
This study proposes a practical and tractable model of economic behavior that can reveal helpful patterns of cross-product substitution.
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