Loti de Esteban's Profile

Such an interesting and fun read, Sneha!

I think that this is a perfect example of how “old” and simple ways of doing things is sometimes the best. It also shows how important it is to think outside the box and really focus on your value proposition (and be creative in the way of delivering it!). I think it’s also very interesting how they tried to monetize through other aspects – such as the food delivery. I’m surprised that it was so successful in that end given that I would have imagine people bringing their own from home! In any case, bravo for the creativeness in these times! I hope these drive-in options continue after COVID-19 because I would love to experience one in person!

Thanks for a great post, Jona! It’s very saddening to see how many businesses are being completely destroyed by COVID-19. I applaud the efforts from ClassPass to continue supporting its partners and clients. However, not knowing when will we go back to “normal” and what this “new normal” will look like, is terribly frightening. I think that people will develop different habits around working out in big classes and tend more towards outdoor workouts vs. indoors. These changes in habits because of COVID-19 could really affect ClassPass and other training platforms. Another concern that I have is that many celebrities, workout influencers, and gym professionals are offering weekly online trainings for free via their IG or YouTube accounts. I can imagine that this might be affecting the number of participants in ClassPass’ virtual classes and membership applications.

Thanks for this great post, Megan! It’s so exciting that it’s an HBS founded company! I really believe that June Motherhood has an incredible value proposition, which is further enhanced during COVID-19. While I agree with Alli Iglehart in her comment above that pregnancy is a very emotional process and that in-person classes are likely preferred by most expecting women, I think that June Motherhood could be extremely helpful for women who have very demanding jobs and crowded schedules. The flexibility of being able to take classes from the comfort of their own home or directly from their offices, is for sure very valuable and could help working women save a lot of time.

Thanks for this great post, Andres!

I think that these initiatives are very interesting and will hopefully help Macy’s overcome some of the challenges it has been experiencing for years. However, I’m concerned about the realistic potential and use of Macy’s in-store mobile initiatives. I think that one of the consequences of the rise of online shopping is that fewer millennials shop in department stores. I’m concerned that the older generation will not be tech-savvy enough or interested in using their phones to get answers to their questions while shopping. They might find it as a hurdle and prefer the traditional way of asking a sales representative for help.

Thanks for a very interesting post, Megan!

I had never heard of Yes Health before, but it seems to be a terrific tool for calorie-counting diets. I wonder, however, how precisely can the app calculate calories based on pictures of meals. For instance, how does it differentiate between food that has been fried vs. grilled? Or how can it tell if a certain meal has been sweetened with 0-calorie sweetener vs. sugar?

Regardless of the above, I think that this app could be extremely useful to combat obesity and install better eating patterns in our society. I also wonder if Yes Health is experiencing higher user activity and downloads during quarantine!

Thanks for a great post, Alli!

I didn’t know about the existence of Spotify’s AI-song generating efforts. The potential of machine-generated music sounds incredibly exciting and I can imagining it revolutionizing the music industry in the future. However, the possibility of this happening is probably a very scary scenario for song-writers and composers. What would happen to them if AI-generated songs were superior to human compositions?

Thank you for a great post, Bastian! I think that it’s very impressive that Gojek was set up as a multi-service platform from day one. It’s clear from your post that it worked out for them, but I wonder if that strategy is too risky in general. I could see a scenario where a customer tries for the first time one of the services in Gojek’s platform – if that service in particular is not of the highest quality or is malfunctioning (maybe because it’s the service where they have invested the less), there’s a chance that the customer might think negatively of Gojek as a whole and not trust the rest of its services.

Separately, the fact that Gojek drivers carry cash in order to make their services available to customers with limited banking sounds great. However, it makes me think of Uber’s cash strategy in Latin America and the terrible consequences that it’s having. In Brazil in particular, the robbery and murder of Uber drivers is causing Uber to re-think its cash strategy. I’m sure that Gojek has evaluated the situation in Indonesia to make sure that its drivers are safe, but I wonder if they’re aware of what is happening to Uber in some Latam markets.

Very interesting post! I wrote my post on Glovo, a Spanish on-demand service platform that purchases, picks-up and delivers products ordered through its mobile app. I think that the key to Glovo’s success and why it hasn’t been “eaten” by Amazon and the likes, is that it provides delivery services for literally anything that is available locally. I think that Drizly’s narrow product focus will put its business model at risk when Amazon moves into the alcohol business. My understanding is that Amazon started offering 1-hour wine delivery to customers in several states last year. I wonder how Drizly is reacting to this and if they’ve started to feel an impact on their revenues!

Very interesting! Regarding your comment on Amazon, I think that ASOS is likely very concerned. I recently read that Amazon’s Prime Wardrobe platform and its “try before you buy” concept is doing very well. It basically sends customers the clothes they like for free and gives them seven days to decide if they want to keep them or return free of charge. I wonder if ASOS has been feeling the effects of this new Amazon service.

I had heard of Glossier before but thought that it was just another typical make-up brand! I’m definitely going to check their products and blogs out. One thing that worries me of their product co-creation model is if I, for example, was someone really excited about the make-up/beauty world and spent a lot of time sending really developed ideas to Glossier, how would I feel if Glossier never implemented or did anything with those ideas? Do they reply to everyone’s suggestions? If they just ignore the ideas that they don’t like, consumers would likely feel disconnected with the brand and could even hurt the brand’s reputation by posting negative comments about Glossier.

Partha, I completely agree with your points. I’m from Spain and was living in the UK before HBS, and had also never heard of Venmo before coming to the US. Two things that strike me are: 1) How Venmo is much more user-friendly than the platforms we use in Europe, such as PayPal and Transferwise, and 2) Why hasn’t a “European Venmo” appeared in the last couple of years or why haven’t the traditional platforms adapted to become more user-friendly? This would have allowed them to attract the younger generation into using their services on a more day-to-day basis (like someone mentions below, even just allowing the use of emojis makes the platforms more fun to use!)

This was very interesting to read! I really hope that these initiatives help drive more visitors to the museum and help capture the attention of the younger generation in particular. My understanding is that Accenture is also helping the Louvre “digitise” how visitors experience art in the museum. Apparently, this is part of a corporate citizen initiative so its free of charge for the Louvre. It would be great if other museums around the world received similar help from their governments!