DISCUSSION FORUM POSTS: To ensure prepared participation and connect metrics and

DISCUSSION FORUM POSTS:
To ensure prepared participation and connect metrics and analytics to what happens in the real-world, each student will write some summary and questions for the assigned readings and participate in class discussion and the discussion forum on Canvas. There will be about 6 discussion topics assigned throughout the semester, and each student is expected to join 4 discussions. Each student will post at least four original pieces for four different topics, and respond to at least ONE other student’s posting under each topic they joined. Your post should contain meaningful content for the topic. Each original post should be no less than 200 words, and each reply should be no less than 50 words to ensure it forms a meaningful conversation. Off-topic or uninformative posts will not earn credits. Some discussion forum topics may be used for the discussion leadership assignment. If a discussion forum topic is scheduled for in-class presentation, the deadline for posting under the topic will be set at one day prior to its presentation date. Posting after the deadline will earn you only partial credit. If you post on more than 4 topics, only 4 randomly selected topics will be considered for grade. For discussions, please see also the section “COMMUNICATION AND NETIQUETTE EXPECTATIONS” in this Syllabus.
Discussion 1: Torrid – A Plus-sized Women Clothing Retailer
Torrid is a plus-sized women’s clothing retailer that has an interesting business. Please learn into its business with the following podcast and do some additional research around it, and share your insights.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/08/13/what-you-need-to-know-about-this-new-retail-ipo/
Discussion 2: itch Fix’s CEO on Selling Personal Style to the Mass Market
Below is an HBR article discussing how survey data and customer usage data were used in stitch fix, to serve their customers. You may choose to read about it on the website or use my word file:
https://hbr.org/2018/05/stitch-fixs-ceo-on-selling-personal-style-to-the-mass-market
Word file (you may use Word’s function “Read Aloud”, so the article is read to you):
stitch-fixs-ceo-on-selling-personal-style-to-the-mass-market.docx
Please pay attention to how data help this business form a win-win with its customers. You may search for some latest news about this business – it is still quite successful during the pandemic. Please share your takeaways in one or two paragraphs with the rest of the class.
Discussion 3: Costco and the Beauty of Membership-Based Retail
Warehouse clubs have dominated the landscape for consumers this year, from bulk purchases of toilet paper to drowning our loneliness in discount liquor. But one warehouse retailer stands above the rest. What makes the Costco experience special? And how does it compare to BJs and Sams Club? You can see from this podcast that how such established businesses manage their loyalty program and consumer experience. https://www.fool.com/podcasts/industry-focus/2020-09-29-cg-costco-and-the-beauty-of-based (Links to an external site.)
Please share your takeaways. Please pay attention to what metrics matter for such membership-based business model, and link your comments to what you’ve learned in this class.
The transcript of this podcast can be found here:: down below Discussion 4: Every Business Can Be a Subscription Business
Recently digital technology is fueling a new wave of subscription services from American Online a few decades ago to Netflix and Blue Apron today. And increasingly even larger enterprises like IBM and General Electric are shifting from sellers of durable goods to sellers of subscription services. The podcast guest today argues that in fact, any business can become a subscription business and thrive because of that decision. https://hbr.org/podcast/2020/07/every-business-can…
Please share your takeaways. Please pay attention to what metrics matter for subscription services, what are the value propositions, and link your comments to what you’ve learned in this class.
////////(Optional) For those who are interested in this topic, here is a more recent discussion of this topic:
https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/12/08/the-subscription-economy-an-investors-update/
Discussion 5: High Cost of Returns
Please listen to or read the following interview about how return policy has impacted retailers. Please comment on wihich metrics (that you can propose) may help retailers assess whether the return policy is good for their business or not. You may also incorporate your other takeaways. It’d be great if you can relate your comments to the customer journey framework, and the categories of questions around that framework.
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/high-cost-of-returns-should-retailers-rethink-policies/
Discussion 6: MKBHD and Marketing on YouTube
This is a talk with Marques about the day-to-day operation of a YouTube channel where he plays every role from business development to ad sales to actually reviewing the phones. It talked about what he can and can’t scale, how he thinks about his dependency on YouTube as a platform, and what the future of his business looks like. Please read/listen through and then share your insights
https://www.theverge.com/22231657/mkbhd-marques-brownlee-interview-youtube-creator-influencer-decoder
Optional) Below is a link to some information of Tiktok business. You can see that despite the success of YouTube as a platform, new competitors can emerge quickly. Often times the creators need to research how platforms work in order to run their business well. https://d3.harvard.edu/platform-digit/submission/tiktok-transform-entertainment-with-ai/