LuluQ

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On May 1, 2017, LuluQ commented on HBX Needs to Go Whole-Hog on VR Classrooms :

Great post and discussion! Hao, great ideas. I like the alum classroom as it allows HBS to experiement with VR classrooms without risking brand dilution as the courses and content would mainly be offered to alums. With over 80,000 living HBS alums today, there is definitely enough appeal in reliving the HBS experience to capture enough alums to test the VR classroom.

I think demand will be driven by need and neccesity and the content provide by MR would serve as supplementary to traditional curriculums. While I don’t know much about Medical Education I would assume that students would appreciate the additional exposure to procedures given the limited number of real-life procedures they are exposed to. I could also see a world in which medical students opt for the susbcription directly to supplement and accelarate their learning.

On May 1, 2017, LuluQ commented on Vuze Camera – Create your own VR content :

Great post Rahul, it definietly is a relatively attractive pricepoint compared to other devices. One thing I thought about though was how useful owning a VR camera is for social media users. My understanding is that Instagram for example does not support 360 content, so unless you are into photography/videography what is the appeal about being able to capture VR content in a world where photos and videos are only worth capturing if you can share them?

On April 7, 2017, LuluQ commented on ProperCloth: Tailoring Better Custom Shirt with Big Data :

Great post! This is great and could make for a great product for women. I’d love to see Proper Cloth use their approach for women’s clothing! Do you think Skeritt plans to leverage this technology for a wider range of applications?

On April 7, 2017, LuluQ commented on Grubhub – Revolutionizing the food-ordering landscape :

Great post Mohit. I am curious to know how complex the recommendation algorithm is, I usually find that recommendations are never really personalized, showing go-to/popular/by cuisine does not seem super complex and I’ve never really found a food delivery platform that delivers recommendations based on a diners taste by identifying taste profiles (restaurant cuisine, quality, and flavor profiles). Do you see this happening anytime soon? I know that would make order decisions much faster for me, and would make it less likely for me to switch to other delivery in order to find a place to order from.

Great post Sija! It’s surprising that Disney had not thought of this earlier, theme parks are a perfect place for the technology. Whether or not this has contributed to Disney’s bottom line, the value-add in convenience and operations definitely makes the overall park experience at Disney better and I feel it’s fair to assume that guests will naturally spend more (ease of payment, overall quicker access to rides). Any thoughts on other applications for smart wristbands?!

On March 23, 2017, LuluQ commented on Glossier: “What’s Your Dream Face Wash?” :

Hi Michelle! The way I see it Glossier is not trying to be THE company for 100% of women, they seem happy with the 80%. Realistically, they shouldn’t. Again, re. milk jelly I would say the same thing it is a product that covers your needs 80% of the time and works for a large majority of women (waterproof mascara for example is not something thet everyone uses). I actually never really thought about this, and your post made me come to this conclusion!

On March 23, 2017, LuluQ commented on Glossier: “What’s Your Dream Face Wash?” :

Hi Natalie! All Glossier products are made for sensitive skin, as the company believes that all skin is sensitive so most products are made to work for all skin types my guess is to keep the product line simple the company will continue on the “one size fits all” strategy. As for your second question my guess is that they will have a defined product map that is based on customer feedback, the direct crowdsourcing (like the facewash) will be for a specific product type. It’s probably the simplest and most direct way to do it!

On March 23, 2017, LuluQ commented on Glossier: “What’s Your Dream Face Wash?” :

Hi Kyla, I actually hesitated before writing this post as I wasn’t sure whether or not this falls under crowdsourcing. The way I thought about it was that crowdsourcing does not have to be explicit (like asking customers to submit ideas). I actually think Glossier’s approach is witty as they kept it very organic and natural by engaging customers on the blog and on social media. I would say Amazon’s approach is more focused on customer service, and while Glossier does the same they do also collect data for product development. The distinction I made was that crowdsourcing is directly related to product development or new service offerings, whether or not customers were explicitly asked to contribute.

On March 23, 2017, LuluQ commented on Glossier: “What’s Your Dream Face Wash?” :

Hi Natalie! The contributions were posted as a response to Emily’s blogpost, so there was no formal process of sending in suggestions/recommendations. I agree though, it would be great if Glossier ran something like a competition (similar to what we saw at Lego), but it looks like the company is focused on keeping the product range simple and relatively small so maybe running a competition could dissapoint customers if Glossier does not decide to develop any of the products.

On March 22, 2017, LuluQ commented on Lego Ideas: Crowdsourcing the Next Big Hit :

Great post, Andrew. I think Lego did a great job by creating the recognition and economic incentive for people to participate. The design and evaluation process both take a significant amount of thinking (to come up with an idea) and waiting (the review phase). Would be interesting to see if other companies were inspired by this and created similar models.

On March 22, 2017, LuluQ commented on CrowdMed: Solving medical puzzles :

Thanks for the great post Ophelia! As was mentioned above, the medical detectives engaged on the platform are clearly not just motivated by the money. And I assume that people using the platform are sharing slightly more unsual medical cases (simple medical diagnostic tools exist online), and so my question is how is crowdmed keeping and growing the medical detectives pool? with busy schedules as so many people to help on the job as is, I feel like I am missing something the incentive here.

Hey Ian, I think at this scale it would be hard for a competitor to instantly replicate the model. However, if that happens I definitely see room to compete on commission. Neves is very forward looking and while the post doesn’t address this, Farfetch acquired a boutique in London (Browns) that is an institution and one of the most prominent and most established luxury fashion boutiques. This acquisition was the first step in Neves plans to pursue an omni-channel growth strategy. While it is unclear what the strategy is, the Browns customer is the brick and mortar equivalent of the Farfetch customer and my guess is that Neves believes that brick and mortar is not really going away, and will use Browns for key insights for his omni-channel strategy.

Hey Will, I don’t think the risk of multi-homing can ever be eliminated here which is what Farfetch understood from day 1. Unlike grocery shopping where customers generally do most of their shopping at a single stores, fashion shoppers visit multiple department stores and boutiques. So I am not really sure I would even consider this a risk, its incredibly ambitious to attempt to be the 1 stop shop for a customers fashion needs. Farfetch seems to be focusing on the independent boutique shopper and a double layer of curation to keep customers coming back for coveted items they know will be difficult to find elsewhere.

Interesting post Onaizah, I’ve never heard of Amazon Homemade either. It’s funny though how your point on commission fees reminded me of the platform simulation, maybe Amazon should have gone through that exercise! I really do think Etsy has designed its platform with a strong focus on vendors and customers, simply using the Amazon brands quickly eliminates the homemade design-conscious feel.

On February 28, 2017, LuluQ commented on Has a Winner-Take-All Strategy Failed Instacart? :

Interesting post James. Thanks! Lauren I completely agree with your point on customer experience but I think Instacart’s 1-2 hour delivery is definitely a competitive advantage. It entirely eliminates the need to plan in advance, most of the time I am happy to trade the risk of missing items for the convenience of getting my groceries in under 2 hours. I can see this being a pain-point however for other customer.

Hey Dan! Great post. One of the biggest challenges I see here is that drivers are multi-homing. Demand for Deliveroo in the UK for example is outgrowing their driver network. As a consumer who uses multiple food delivery services I see drivers showing up with competitor food bags which means they’re probably running a few orders from different companies at the same time, and food delivery is only getting slower as demand grows. Would be interesting to see how this unfolds!

On February 2, 2017, LuluQ commented on Wayfair: Are Customers Really Ready to Buy Furniture Online? :

Really interesting! This made me think about luxury fashion e-commerce. It’s very likely that many people thought at first that no one would spend thousand of dollars on a high value item before seeing, feeling, and trying it on. Net-a-porter is a great example, to help shoppers make a decision products are perfectly photographer (several photos to show all the details), they provide detailed descriptions of the fabric, fit, and exact measurements for every single item in every single size. Like other fashion wesbites they style outfits, and they couple that with a highly flexible return policy. They even sell fine jewelry nowadays for tens of thousands of dollars. Wayfair seems to have most of this covered, more detailed photos though would probably improve the user experience and make purchasing decisions easier but I defintely see the value and convenience in being able to buy furntire at a one-stop shop online!

I heard about Kayla but never looked into the app. It’s definitely a new way of thinking about a solid workout. The community aspect is interesting, as many people enjoy boutique fitness classes because of the community so that may be one way to attract class goers. There are countless fitness app out there that promise to do the same (Kayla’s UI is much better though) but I guess the biggest challenge here is convincing people that this is an effective workout, and Kayla use of social media and before and after photos is a great way of doing that! I just downloaded the app and started my 7 day trial, excited to try it out.

On February 1, 2017, LuluQ commented on Google Maps: the winner that begets winning :

Google Maps really is a major winner. As someone with zero navigation skills, and very little reason to improve it (with Google Maps around) this app is everything. This summer during my internship I left the office for a nearby meeting (I used Google Maps to get there, 10 minute walk), my phone died during the meeting and it took me 25 minutes to walk back to the office! I realized how I had completely turned-off my sense of direction after using Google Maps for so long. This winter break I organized a trip to take friends from HBS to Saudi and pre-planned all our journeys weeks in advance using the traffic predictions feature, it was incredibly accurate.