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- February 2021 (Revised March 2021)
- Case
Shopify: The Conquest for Chinese E-Commerce
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Avani Patel, Ariel Yang and Samantha Lin
In mid-2020, Tobias Lütke, CEO of Shopify, faced a critical decision on how to time potential expansion into the China market. Over the prior 15 years, his Canadian software-as-a-service company had grown from a small e-commerce solutions provider to a full service...
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Keywords:
E-commerce;
Timing;
Corporate Entrepreneurship;
Service Operations;
Business Model;
Organizational Design;
Change Management;
Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues;
Global Strategy;
Health Pandemics;
Growth Management;
Marketing Strategy;
Technology Platform;
Alliances;
Partners and Partnerships;
Opportunities;
Online Technology;
United States;
Canada;
China
- January 2021
- Case
Anodot: Autonomous Business Monitoring
By: Antonio Moreno and Danielle Golan
Autonomous business monitoring platform Anodot leveraged machine learning to provide real-time alerts regarding business anomalies. Anodot’s solution was used in various industries in order to primarily monitor business health, such as revenue and payments, product...
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- 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...
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Keywords:
Retail;
Business Models;
Business Model;
Business Startups;
Emerging Markets;
For-Profit Firms;
Strategy;
Technology Platform;
Information Technology;
Technology Adoption;
Value Creation;
Globalization;
Entrepreneurship;
Competition;
Expansion;
Logistics;
Profit;
Resource Allocation;
Diversification;
Corporate Strategy;
Retail Industry;
Technology Industry;
Africa
- July 2020
- Case
Amanda and Kristen: Mented Cosmetics
By: Steven Rogers, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Alterrell Mills
The co-founders (Black HBS alumnae) of an e-commerce beauty startup explore the unmet needs within the beauty industry. This case study examines the entrepreneurial opportunities that come from identifying an underserved market, specifically within the Black community...
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Keywords:
Brands and Branding;
Competition;
Customers;
Disruption;
Disruptive Innovation;
Distribution Channels;
Entrepreneurship;
Finance;
Macroeconomics;
Marketing;
Marketing Channels;
Marketing Communications;
Marketing Strategy;
Mission and Purpose;
Organizational Culture;
Product Design;
Product Development;
Product Positioning;
Sales;
Social Issues;
Social Marketing;
Business Startups;
Strategic Planning;
Strategy;
Supply Chain Management;
Venture Capital;
Beauty and Cosmetics Industry;
Advertising Industry;
Public Relations Industry;
Chemical Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
Retail Industry;
North and Central America;
United States;
New York (city, NY);
New York (state, US)
- November 2019 (Revised April 2020)
- Case
Away: Scaling a DTC Travel Brand
By: Jill Avery and Joseph B. Fuller
Away, a direct-to-consumer, digital native e-commerce seller of travel luggage, is debating how to invest its latest round of venture funding. How quickly could and should Away scale and what were the most promising growth trajectories to maximize its potential? Three...
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Keywords:
Brand Management;
DTC;
E-commerce;
Brand Extension;
Lifestyle Brand;
Customer Segmentation;
Retailing;
Scaling And Growth;
Startup;
Brands and Branding;
Marketing;
Marketing Strategy;
Marketing Channels;
Entrepreneurship;
Venture Capital;
Consumer Behavior;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Business Startups;
Consumer Products Industry;
Travel Industry;
United States;
North America
- September 2019
- Teaching Note
Boxed
By: Laura Huang and Andy Wu
Boxed.com (“Boxed”) is an ambitious e-commerce retailer start-up, founded by visionary CEO Chieh Huang in 2013. From starting in Huang’s garage in 2013, to winning Emerging E-Retailer of the Year in 2016, to having 4 operational distribution centers in 2018, Boxed used...
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- April 2019
- Case
Boxed
By: Laura Huang, Andy Wu and Jiayi Bao
Boxed.com (“Boxed”) is an ambitious e-commerce retailer start-up, founded by visionary CEO Chieh Huang in 2013. From starting in Huang’s garage in 2013, to winning Emerging E-Retailer of the Year in 2016, to having 4 operational distribution centers in 2018, Boxed used...
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- January 2019
- Teaching Note
Hubble Contact Lenses: Data Driven Direct-to-Consumer Marketing
By: Ayelet Israeli
Teaching Note for HBS No. 519-011. As its Series A extension round approaches, the founders of Hubble, a subscription-based, social-media fueled, direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand of contact lenses, are reflecting on the marketing strategies that have taken them to a...
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Keywords:
DTC;
Direct To Consumer Marketing;
Health Care;
E-commerce;
Mobile;
Digital Marketing;
Attribution;
Experimentation;
Experiments;
Churn/retention;
Customer Lifetime Value;
Internet Marketing;
Big Data;
Analytics;
Social Media;
A/B Testing;
CRM;
Advertising;
Marketing;
Marketing Channels;
Marketing Strategy;
Media;
Brands and Branding;
Marketing Communications;
Online Advertising;
Acquisition;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Consumer Behavior
- August 2018 (Revised December 2020)
- Case
Hubble Contact Lenses: Data Driven Direct-to-Consumer Marketing
By: Jill Avery and Ayelet Israeli
As its Series A extension round approaches, the founders of Hubble, a subscription-based, social-media fueled, direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand of contact lenses, are reflecting on the marketing strategies that have taken them to a valuation of $200 million and debating...
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Keywords:
DTC;
Direct To Consumer Marketing;
Health Care;
E-commerce;
Mobile;
Digital Marketing;
Attribution;
Experimentation;
Experiments;
Churn/retention;
Customer Lifetime Value;
Internet Marketing;
Big Data;
Analytics;
Social Media;
A/B Testing;
CRM;
Advertising;
Marketing;
Marketing Channels;
Marketing Strategy;
Media;
Brands and Branding;
Marketing Communications;
Online Advertising;
Consumer Behavior;
Acquisition;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Health Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
United States;
North America;
Europe
- April 2018 (Revised November 2019)
- Case
JD: Envisioning the Future of Retail (A)
By: Feng Zhu and Shirley Sun
JD, China’s second largest e-commerce company by gross merchandise volume (GMV) after Alibaba, had expanded rapidly from 2012 to 2016. When the company celebrated its 13th birthday in 2017, Richard Liu, its founder, deliberated on the company’s growth strategies. The...
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- October 2017 (Revised September 2018)
- Supplement
Jumia Nigeria: from Retail to Marketplace (B)
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Namrata Arora
This follow up case study explores the ramifications of Jumia's decision to move from a retail-led to a markplace business model for its e-commerce platform. The case visits the company's successes as well as its many failures when adopting this vendor-led strategy. ...
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- April 2017 (Revised October 2017)
- Case
Wal-Mart Update, 2017
By: David B. Yoffie and Eric Baldwin
In 2017 Wal-Mart was still the world’s largest company, with over $480 billion in annual revenue and operations in 28 countries. Although it had mostly vanquished its rival discount retailers in the U.S., it was struggling to find the right growth strategy. Facing a...
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- February 2017
- Case
Dick's Sporting Goods
By: Rajiv Lal, Jose B. Alvarez and Matthew G. Preble
Edward Stack, chairman and CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS), faced a rapidly changing sporting goods landscape in October 2016. Two large competitors—The Sports Authority and Sport Chalet—had folded earlier that year, and DKS had to contend with increasingly robust...
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Keywords:
Sporting Goods;
Retail;
E-commerce;
Employees;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Growth Management;
Product Marketing;
Demand and Consumers;
Consumer Behavior;
Product;
Service Delivery;
Service Operations;
Partners and Partnerships;
Business Strategy;
Competition;
Corporate Strategy;
Expansion;
Internet;
Retail Industry;
United States;
Pennsylvania
- January 2017 (Revised November 2020)
- Case
Delivering the Goods at Shippo
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Jeffrey F. Rayport and Olivia Hull
Laura Behrens Wu, CEO of software start-up Shippo, prepares her pitch for a Series A funding round following a successful seed round. Customer adoption of Shippo’s e-commerce dashboard application, which allows small and medium retailers to compare delivery rates...
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Keywords:
Application Program Interface;
API;
API Strategy;
Customer Cohorts;
Churn;
Retention;
Entrepreneurship;
Venture Capital;
Business Startups;
Strategy;
Transition;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Technological Innovation;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Valuation;
Shipping Industry;
Technology Industry;
Retail Industry;
San Francisco;
California;
United States
- September 2016 (Revised February 2017)
- Case
MyTime
By: Juliane Begenau and Robin Greenwood
Ethan Anderson, the CEO of San Francisco–based e-commerce company MyTime, must decide on the company's growth strategy. MyTime’s first product was a website and mobile app that offered consumers a convenient way to book appointments with local merchants throughout the...
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- March 2016
- Case
IC Group A/S
By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth
IC Group owned several of Scandinavia's leading premium fashion brands. How should it respond to the decline of its primary wholesale distribution channels (independent fashion boutiques and department stores)? Should it open more physical stores or focus on...
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Keywords:
IC Group;
IC Companys;
Carli Gry;
InWear;
Mads Ryder;
Niels Martinsen;
Premium Fashion;
Fast Fashion;
Business Units;
Business Divisions;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Business Model;
Business Organization;
For-Profit Firms;
Profit;
Revenue;
Multinational Firms and Management;
Business History;
Business or Company Management;
Acquisition;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Brands and Branding;
Distribution Channels;
Organizational Design;
Organizational Structure;
Problems and Challenges;
Strategy;
Product Positioning;
Competition;
Competitive Strategy;
Corporate Strategy;
Vertical Integration;
Segmentation;
Web Sites;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Fashion Industry;
Retail Industry;
Scandinavia;
Denmark;
Sweden;
Norway
- July 2015
- Case
Vita: Cosmetics in the Nordics
By: Das Narayandas, Krishna Palepu and Kerry Herman
Vita is a Norwegian cosmetics retailer owned by FSN Capital, a Scandinavian private equity company. The company has a strong market position in Norway. The case focuses on two strategic issues: how to develop an e-commerce strategy to supplement the company's...
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- November 2013 (Revised October 2015)
- Case
Valuing Yahoo! in 2013
By: Luis M. Viceira and Atul Khosla
In late July 2013, Danielle Engle, Managing Director of Clairemont Capital, was contemplating what to do about a large investment her fund had in the stock of Yahoo! Inc. In mid-2012, Clairemont had invested nearly $75M in Yahoo! after the tech company settled a highly...
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- April 2012 (Revised October 2013)
- Supplement
eBay, Inc. and Amazon.com (B)
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Anant Thaker
A decade after BusinessWeek declared the competitive battle between eBay, Inc., and Amazon.com "a defining moment for e-commerce," Amazon established itself as the leader. eBay must decide what strategy to use in order to regain the upper hand: maintain its current...
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- July 2007 (Revised September 2007)
- Module Note
Managing Networked Businesses: Summary Module
Offers pedagogical guidance for instructors teaching the summary module of Managing Networked Businesses, an elective course described in "Managing Networked Businesses: Course Overview for Educators." Also describes how the module materials can be adapted for use in...
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