Tag Archives: ecommerce

by | Thursday, November 30, 2023 · 7:00 am

Uber ~ It’s Not Just for People Anymore

In case you haven’t noticed, Uber isn’t just for people ride-sharing anymore. It has expanded its service to include delivering and returning packages for shipment. Uber’s new “Return a Package” feature adds on to “Uber Connect” by picking up online returns and delivering them to predetermined shipping points (e.g., UPS, USPS, FedEx) for a fixed fee.

It can be a pain to return something. And we bet you have something in your house that you bought online and want to return, but just haven’t gotten around to it. (No shame.) After the box is packed, we have to get in the car (perhaps calling an Uber for a ride?) or on a bus and travel to a return spot such as the U.S. Post Office, FedEx, or UPS. (And doesn’t it always seem as if the line gets longer just before you enter…)

Returning packages bought online is a growing practice in the U.S. According to the National Retail Federation, online customers last year returned 16.5%, more than $212 billion worth of purchases! Many of those purchases will be rejected by consumers and need to be returned for a credit.

So, Uber is now making it easier to return those online purchases. Using the Uber app, you can schedule a pick-up and delivery for a flat $5.00 fee. A courier will pick up your prepaid, packaged item and drop it off at a predetermined destination. The service is available in more than 4,950 cities in the U.S.

Uber isn’t the only company trying to cash in on a growing practice. DoorDash began a similar service in January, and Walmart offers at-home return pickups for subscribers in its Walmart+ membership program.

What are you going to return?

 Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students: Who has used Uber’s ride services?
  2. Poll students: What are the issues involved when they need to return a purchase via shipping? Does anyone have something that they haven’t gotten around to returning yet?
  3. Show a video about the new service: https://youtu.be/sp_2GR2j7i4?si=Ou_6TVKONN9SCdQ6
  4. Show the news release from Uber: https://www.uber.com/newsroom/uber-package-returns/
  5. Poll students: Who would use this service? Why or why not?
  6. Divide students into team. Have each team work on a possible SWOT analysis that led Uber to its decision to launch the new service.
    1. Strengths: what is company good at?
    1. Weaknesses: what needs work?
    1. Opportunities: what is going on in marketplace?
    1. Threats: what should company be wary of?
  7. Based on the analysis, what are the issues and risks that might occur?

Source: Durbin, Dee-Ann. (10 October, 2023). Uber adding package return to services in 5,000 cities. Associated Press.; Lukpat, A. (4 October 2023). Uber introduces package return service. Wall Street Journal.

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by | Wednesday, December 28, 2022 · 5:28 pm

Holiday Shopping: Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2022

Black Friday has become almost another holiday for consumers – and a challenge for marketers.  After two years shopping online, people were ready to go back to the stores.

The day after Thanksgiving saw millions of American consumers hit the stores and malls. In pre-pandemic years it was wild with crowds of shoppers piled into big box stores and malls for doorbuster promotions. But fewer people were out shopping early this year. Probably because retailers were offering Black Friday (early) deals in October to entice earlier holiday purchases (and lighten excess inventory).

Sales at brick-and-mortar stores grew roughly 18%; online purchases were up nearly 4%. Cyber Monday was definitely the biggest shopping day online with sales of $11.3 billion, an increase of 5.8% from 2021.

According to the National Retail Federation shopping survey, top gift categories are clothing, gift cards, and toys. But the national economy has an impact on spending, with most households planning to buy fewer gifts this year.

Some additional shopping highlights:

  • Shoppers spent an average of $325.44 on holiday purchases.
  • Overall shopping increased 8% from 2021.
  • Roughly 197 million shoppers visited stores or bought online between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday.
  • Traffic in physical stores increased 17% from 2021.
  • Online spending reached more than $9 billion on Black Friday.
  • Online shoppers increased only 2.3% from 2021.

Despite inflation fears, we still like to give gifts.

What did you buy?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Discuss the changes in U.S. consumers’ shopping habits now that pandemic restrictions have been lifted.
  2. Poll students: What new shopping habits have the students formed?
  3. Where do they shop? Why? Online and in person?
  4. Show WSJ’s photos/article about the changes in store for Black Friday shopping: https://www.wsj.com/story/black-friday-is-back-with-smaller-crowds-5e22045b?mod=Searchresults_pos7&page=1
  5. Poll students about their shopping over Thanksgiving Week – Cyber Monday.
  6. Divide students into teams.
  7. In teams, have students tally how much they spent, which products were sought after, etc. See which teams are the biggest spenders.
  8. Have each team design a holiday sales promotion for a company of their choosing.

Source: Nassauer, S. (29 November 2022). Black Friday weekend drew millions of shoppers back to stores. Wall Street Journal.: WSJ Staff (25 November 2022). Black Friday is back, with smaller crowds. Wall Street Journal.

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by | Monday, October 31, 2022 · 8:35 am

Peloton Now Available on Amazon

Like many other direct-to-consumer companies, Peloton did great during the pandemic. Its sales were at an all-time high and the company couldn’t keep up with demand. Peloton sold only through its own retail stores and online – no other distribution channel. This model allowed Peloton to keep a larger portion of the sales price, but the narrow distribution hampered sales and delivery. It just couldn’t keep up with demand.

But now things have changed in retail, and changed for Peloton in particular. In a move designed to expand its customer base and sell more product, its fitness equipment and apparel will now be available from Amazon. This is the first such partnership for Peloton’s distribution channel.

The Peloton bike retails for $1,445 – a pretty large sum for a product on Amazon. Also on Amazon, Peloton will sell its strength product, the Peloton Guide, for $295 plus branded cycling shorts, weights, yoga blocks, and other apparel. (At this time, the more expensive Bike+ and Tread treadmill are not available on Amazon.) Bike customers can now select a self-assembly option instead of having Peloton staff assemble and install the Bike.

Peloton is not the only company expanding its sales from DTC to brick-and-mortar stores. Consider Warby Parker and Allbirds; both companies started by selling products online only, but have now expanded to their own stores and other retailers.

Where will you purchase?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. In order to be successful, companies must be able to physically get a product into the hands of the customers. Discuss how a distribution channel works.
  2. For Peloton Bike, what distribution channels are used now?
  3. How can the channel be expanded? What approach could be used?
  4. Divide students into teams. Have each team draw a flow chart for the distribution of the product.
  5. View Peloton’s store on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Peloton/page/08F7A78F-F893-478F-975C-27223FD08B5F?ref_=ast_bln&pd_rd_w=W3EIN&content-id=amzn1.sym.73ac3f51-c1c2-4951-89eb-8ee3c7bb7bd8&pf_rd_p=73ac3f51-c1c2-4951-89eb-8ee3c7bb7bd8&pf_rd_r=3E7328ME1FKNQGD6VTW8&pd_rd_wg=vNHwA&pd_rd_r=b66f4f9e-6c64-45f2-b2b7-29299228d75c
  6. View video: https://youtu.be/J1pKZts_K3s
  7. View Peloton’s website: https://www.onepeloton.com/

Sources:  Ovide, S. (25 August 2022). Why Peloton is selling on Amazon. New York Times.; Thomas, L. (24 August 2022). Peloton strikes a deal to sell fitness equipment and apparel on Amazon.

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