Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 6, 2014

If round after round of profit warnings was not enough – group operating profits fell 20% between 2011 and 2013 and are likely to fall another 30% in 2014 — the company recently announced it had overstated its first-half profit by about $400 million. Troubles at Tesco, the UK’s leading retailer, are mounting. Aldi UK sales grew from $6.3

Retail 11

Retail Merchandising Discount Price 11

Harvard Business Review

JULY 17, 2015

The maker movement continues to expand, and demand for lower-cost electronic parts, products, and accessories remains strong. The owners of Service Merchandise and Woolworth’s have both benefitted from this line of thinking. A better litmus test for keeping or killing a brand may be purpose.

Brand 8

Brand Merchandising Retail Real Estate 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 11, 2013

Harry Gordon Selfridge, who founded the eponymous London-based retailer, did the unthinkable when he opened his first store in 1909, taking merchandise out from behind the counters so that customers could actually touch it. I want merchandise that people will desire. The patient needed radical surgery. That''s not crazy talk.

Merchandising 8

Merchandising Retail Gordon Price 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 28, 2013

The latter promptly announced plans to launch a third trilogy of Star Wars films in 2015, a move that will keep the brand alive and serve as a platform for selling products to a new generation of fans. It would be one thing if your product's biggest fans loved it unconditionally. billion in home entertainment products.).

Franchising 8

Franchising Licensing Merchandising Film 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 27, 2013

Penney in November 2011 with a mandate to turn the ailing retailer around, all eyes were on him. Before that, he was the VP of merchandising for Target (or "Tar-jay"). On the other hand, Warby Parker used the need to search for information about their product — eye glasses — as a strategy to build loyalty.

Retail 10

Retail Price Merchandising CFO 10

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 16, 2011

In the first quarter of 2011, Groupon posted a net loss of $113.9 The company's product is not more valuable to users as more people adopt the platform. But as far as an investment goes, Groupon is looking about as profitable as giving away your merchandise for 90% off. Yet, the company reported ASCOI of positive $80.1

Christensen 19

Christensen Fixed Costs Metrics Venture Funding 19

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 29, 2014

Sometimes, the experience of anticipation can be just as powerful as the product you’re selling. And if the product is good and the demand exceeds the supply, the line will be a microcommunity of your very best fans wanting to pay patronage to your brand. Each year since 2011, the company unveils an Annual Report.

Brand 15

Brand How To Franchising Merchandising 15

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 6, 2014

In each iteration, we spent a lot of time thinking about what might make the best use of our existing product. 3721’s core product was essentially an early form of search: a browser download that helped users in China go directly to destination web sites. Those issues slowed us down on the product side as well.

Chief Financial Officer 10

Chief Financial Officer Operations Learning-by-Doing IPO 10

In the CEO Afterlife

NOVEMBER 4, 2012

Towards the end of 2011, he was diagnosed with inoperable esophageal cancer. On a productive day, aside from the mountain of dead trees (recycling hadn’t been invented in 1982), stacked polystyrene coffee cups and an overflowing ash-tray, there would also be a satisfying thick sheaf of “concepts.” We were just shifting product.

Advertising 265

Advertising Creativity Industry Bottom-up 265

Strategy Driven

APRIL 4, 2014

One-third of the Gross National Product is sent each year toward cleaning up mistakes, rework, make-goods, corrective action and correcting defects. Employee theft and shoplifting accounting for 15% of the retail cost of merchandise. In 2011, the Department of Commerce estimated that there were 27.5 Yet, only 5.1% 50% do not.

Budgeting 84

Budgeting Succession Consultative Crisis 84

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 21, 2013

Insiders know it as Merchandise 7X. In 1998, a group of horse ranchers suddenly set up a production facility and filed an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for a generic version of Premarin. This, of course, represented a serious threat to a hugely profitable product. Is the product regularly observed in public settings?

Intangible Assets 8

Intangible Assets Merchandising Innovation Pharmaceuticals 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 15, 2013

That makes it close to impossible for a chain to set the same product price both on its web site and in physical stores that is competitive with an Internet-only retailer and still yields a profit. It may be a reach to think of having different prices — an in-store one and another on the web — for the same product.

Price 8

Price Policies Retail Discount 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 27, 2012

Like Bag Borrow or Steal (another rental player), RTR enables time-sharing of merchandise. One featured example: compete with celebrity chefs to outdo them when it comes to making the very best pizza — using products sold by HSN. Talk about the democratization of high fashion. A leading example is Zulily f or new moms and kids.

Retail 15

Retail Fashion Merchandising Apparel 15

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 19, 2018

They’re more productive , more profitable , more innovative , and they pay better. In 2011, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen declared that “software is eating the world.” Greater productivity meant lower prices and faster growth, leading to increased industry dominance. Andrew Brookes/Getty Images.

Software 8

Software Company Competitive Advantage Henderson 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 22, 2013

The quintessential example is the quirky local book store, which sells antiques, unusual knick-knacks, offers free Wi-Fi, and hosts a café — an eclectic mix of experiences enriched by products, services, and community that trump online retailing. But this approach has many limitations, chief among them is that it''s hard to scale.

Retail 8

Retail Reis Merchandising Download 8