Gazelle in 2010

Posted: 10 Feb 2012

See all articles by Andrei Hagiu

Andrei Hagiu

Boston University - Questrom School of Business

James Weber

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: October 28, 2010

Abstract

Gazelle has pioneered a reCommerce intermediation model: it buys used electronics from consumers and resells them on eBay or to wholesalers. Going forward, its two main strategic challenges are: 1) deciding how much to rely on partnerships with large retailers for growth; 2) deciding whether to continue as a "merchant," i.e., buying and reselling goods (and thereby taking inventory risk), or to transform itself into a "two-sided platform" connecting sellers and buyers without taking inventory risk.

Learning Objective: Two main purposes: i) analyzing strategic challenges associated with creating a new intermediation category (reCommerce); ii) analyzing economic tradeoffs between two polar intermediation models (pure "merchant" buying and reselling goods and pure "platform" connecting buyers and sellers).

Suggested Citation

Hagiu, Andrei and Weber, James, Gazelle in 2010 (October 28, 2010). Harvard Business School Strategy Unit case no. 711-446, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2002097

Andrei Hagiu (Contact Author)

Boston University - Questrom School of Business ( email )

595 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA MA 02215
United States

James Weber

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

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