Santiago Gallino

David Bell, Santiago Gallino, Antonio Moreno-Garcia, Are Everywhere Stores the New Face of Retail? in MIT Sloan Management Review, Online Edition.

Abstract: Omnichannel retailers can extend their customer engagement and logistics capabilities via nontraditional sales and fulfillment locations.

Marshall L. Fisher, Santiago Gallino, Jun Li, A Step-by-Step Guide to Real-Time Pricing in Harvard Business Review, November-December 2023.

Abstract: In today’s fast-paced world of digital retailing, the ability to revise prices swiftly and on a large scale has emerged as a decisive differentiator for companies. Many retailers now track competitors’ prices via systems that scrape rivals’ websites and use this information as an input to set their own prices manually or automatically. A common strategy is to charge X dollars or X percent less than a target competitor. However, retailers that use such simple heuristics miss significant opportunities to fine-tune pricing. Some companies are now applying machine-learning models to guide their pricing decisions, but even these retailers tend to take an overly limited approach. They try to match or undercut competitors’ prices without taking into account factors such as whether rivals are out of stock or how consumers make their purchasing decisions. In this article, we present a step-by-step process for dynamic pricing that focuses on building computer models that consider not just competitor pricing but also product availability and customer behavior to recommend optimal prices in real-time.

Santiago Gallino, Nil Karacaoglu, Antonio Moreno-Garcia, Algorithmic Assortment Curation: An Empirical Study of Buybox in Online Marketplaces.

Abstract: Most online sales worldwide take place in online marketplaces that connect sellers and buyers. The presence of numerous third-party sellers leads to a proliferation of listings for each product, making it difficult for customers to choose between the available options. Online marketplaces adopt algorithmic tools to curate how the different listings for a product are presented to customers. This paper focuses on one such tool, the Buybox, that algorithmically chooses one option to be presented prominently to customers as a default option. We leveraged the staggered introduction of the Buybox within a prominent product category in a leading online marketplace to study how the Buybox impacts marketplace dynamics. Our findings indicate that adopting Buybox results in a substantial increase in marketplace orders and visits. Implementing Buybox reduces the frictions customers and sellers face. On the customer side, we find a reduction of search frictions, evidenced by an increase in conversion rates and a higher impact on the mobile channels, which have significantly higher search frictions than desktop channels. On the seller side, the number of sellers offering a product increases following the implementation of Buybox. Customers benefit from lower prices and higher average quality levels when competition in Buyboxes is high. After the introduction of the Buybox, the marketplace also becomes more concentrated. Our paper contributes to the burgeoning literature on the role of algorithms in platforms by examining how algorithmic curation impacts the participants of the marketplace as well as the marketplace dynamics.

Rafael Escamilla, Jan C. Fransoo, Santiago Gallino, Order-Based Trade Credits and Operational Performance in the Nanostore Retail Channel.

Abstract: Millions of nanostores serve bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers in emerging markets. Their suppliers, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, struggle with high operational costs that largely stem from shopkeepers’ liquidity constraints. We empirically investigate whether suppliers can improve operational performance by allowing nanostore shopkeepers to delay order payment by a short period of time. We term this delayed payment alternative “order-based trade credit” (OBTC) and examine the key trade-off that suppliers face when transacting with it. While OBTC can create efficiency gains when selling and delivering products to nanostores, it is risky, as shopkeepers might default on their credit lines. By leveraging data from a nanostore supplier offering OBTC, we assess the effect of this novel policy on the operational perfor- mance of the supplier through a difference-in-differences approach. We find that OBTC leads to substantial gains for nanostore suppliers across a range of important operational drivers. In addition, we show when the benefits of OBTC compensate the risk suppliers take in providing it.

Carolyn Deller and Santiago Gallino (Under Review), Pay for Quantity or Time? Implications for Work Speed and Quality.

Abstract: We examine how paying workers a fixed amount for a pre-specified quantity of work vis-à-vis paying workers a fixed amount for a pre-specified amount of time for a quality-focused task affects the time spent per unit of work and the quality achieved. Across two experiments, we find no evidence—contrary to our expectations—that workers paid for a set quantity of work spend less time on each unit (i.e., work faster) than workers paid for a set amount of time. In fact, in our second experiment, we find workers paid for a set quantity of work spend more time on each unit on average. These workers also achieve greater quality. These findings, together with the worker outcomes we observe when workers are told what is valued (quality, speed, or both), are consistent with the idea that the design of fixed compensation schemes can influence employee effort and performance, despite no compensation consequences, by implicitly communicating what is valued.

Santiago Gallino, Nil Karacaoglu, Antonio (Toni) Moreno-Garcia (2022), Need for Speed: The Impact of In-Process Delays on Customer Behavior in Online Retail, .

Abstract: The impact of delays has been widely studied in various offline services. The focus of this study is online services, and we explore the impact of in-process delays—measured by website speed—on customer behavior. We leverage novel retail and website speed data to investigate how delays impact online sales and how customer sensitivity to in-process delays varies across the different stages of a customer’s shopping journey. We estimate sizable adverse effects of website slowdowns on online sales. Using threshold regression models, we show that customers exhibit diminishing sensitivity to increases in website slowdowns. Our results suggest that waiting times affect customer abandonment differently at different stages of the shopping journey. Customers are more sensitive to slowdowns at the checkout stage. Our findings have implications for website design decisions such as improving website speed at the checkout stage, selecting third-party content providers, and customizing the design of mobile and desktop channels. The paper’s results are especially relevant in the current regulatory environment with ongoing policy debates about net neutrality.

Santiago Gallino and Robert Rooderkerk, New Product Development in an Omnichannel World in California Management Review, September 2020.

Abstract: Firms compete in an increasingly omnichannel environment. Customers no longer travel a single linear path but traverse a complex map invoking many channels, firm-owned and external, seamlessly through integrated technology. The associated changes in consumer behavior and the ways that firms engage consumers have led many to reshape the way they innovate their product portfolios. This article presents a structured overview of some of the most striking changes to firms’ new product development (NPD) processes in B2C settings. Enlisting the classic NPD funnel, it describes how the omnichannel environment and its technologies affect speed and execution in each development stage. It illustrates key changes with examples from packaged goods, consumer technology, and fashion.

David Bell, Santiago Gallino, Antonio (Toni) Moreno-Garcia (2020), Customer Supercharging in Experience-Centric Channels, Management Science.

Abstract: We conjecture that for online retailers, experience-centric offline store formats do not simply expand market coverage, but rather, serve to significantly amplify future positive customer behaviors, both online and offline. We term this phenomenon “supercharging” and test our thesis using data from a digital-first men’s apparel retailer and a pioneer of the so-called “Zero Inventory Store” (ZIS) format—a small footprint, experience- centric retail location which carries no inventory for immediate fulfillment, but fulfils orders via e-commerce. Using a risk-set matching approach, we calibrate our estimates on customers who are “treated”, i.e., have a ZIS experience, and matched with identical customers who shop online only. We find that post the ZIS experience, customers spend more, shop at a higher velocity, and are less likely to return items. The positive impact on returns is doubly virtuous as it is more pronounced for more tactile, higher-priced items, thus mitigating a key pain point of online retail. Furthermore, the ZIS shopping experience aids product discovery and brand attachment, causing sales to become more diffuse over a larger number of categories. Finally, we demonstrate that our results are robust to self-selection and potentially confounding effects of unobservable factors on the matched pairs of customers. Implications for retailing practice, including for legacy, offline-first retailers, are discussed.

Dawson Kaaua, Santiago Gallino, Christian Terwiesch, S Mehta (Working), The Impact of Waiting Location on Customer Satisfaction: An Empirical Analysis of Preoperative Patient Flow.

Santiago Gallino and Dawson Kaaua (Work In Progress), How May I Help You? Inferring Service Quality from a Server’s Personal Details.