Sloan Center for Internet Retailing - University of California, Riverside

The Sloan Center for Internet Retailing, located at the University of California, Riverside, is the world's leading university research center dedicated to improving the effectiveness of online retailing.

Join the UCR eLab Panel and participate in our ground-breaking academic research (and win monthly cash prizes for doing so).

Below are the most recent posts of the Sloan Center blog. We invite you to browse.

The Department of Management and Marketing is hosting a “Deliberative Dialogue” with Professor Rick Staelin, the Edward and Rose Donnell Professor of Business Administration at Duke University, on Friday, April 6, 2007. 

Professor Staelin has served as the Deputy Dean of the Fuqua School, the Associate Dean for Executive Education, the area coordinator for the marketing department, and is currently the Executive Director of the Teradata CRM Center at Duke (more info at: http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/faculty/alpha/rstaelin.htm).

As part of the Deliberative Dialogue Series, Professor Staelin has been invited to spur debate within our department as to new directions in the field, areas in which to build faculty strength, and provide his perspective on the broad issues and themes our department should be considering. 

The dialogue will begin at 3pm, with a reception on the AGSM Lawn to follow immediately after at 4:30pm

For further information, please contact Ms. Allie Page   

Spring 2007 Marketing Seminar Series

Seminars will be held in Anderson Hall 121.  Contact Ms. Allie Page for more information.

March 2, 2007
Professor Paul Dholakia (Rice University)

April 20, 2007
Professor Shailendra Jain (Indiana University)

Lemaster, Julie, “Online Panel Management and Strategies:  An Introduction for Managers,” (January 2007).

Abstract.  The intention of this paper is to provide an introductory guide to managers who have been asked or have decided it is time to start looking into online market research for their company.  The size of the company you work for does not matter, as we will discuss several methods that can be used for any size company or investment level.  This paper is for managers who want to quickly learn the basic issues of online market research panels.  It will also be useful to managers who need to become familiar with some of the major providers of online panel management.  Download pdf.

Sloan Center Seminar Series

Seminars will be held in Anderson Hall South 118. Contact Professor Donna Hoffman for more information.

December 1, Professor Fred Davis, David D. Glass Chair in Information Systems
Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas

“Tradeoff-induced Decision Anxiety: Unintended Negative Effects on Preferences for Decision Aids”

2-3:30pm seminar; 3:30-5pm reception AGSM front lawn 

Professor Barbara Kahn of the Wharton School gave a very important speech addressing research productivity during her presidential address at the recent Association for Consumer Research conference in Orlando.  She looked at the ways that ACR could help make a difference in our academic lives and conducted a survey of the membership to get a better handle on the kinds of problems we all face in trying to be more productive - and impactful - researchers.

Her observations and conclusions are really interesting (and highly useful in resource-based arguments with university administrators).  Have a look.

Fall 2006 Marketing Seminar Series

Seminars will be held in Anderson Hall 121. Contact Professor Donna Hoffman for more information.

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ONLINE BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH ROUNDTABLE AT ACR Orlando Sept 28-Oct 1, 2006

Collecting data over the Internet seems like a solution to all an experimentalist’s problems. Responses can be collected from the far corners of the world, from people in all walks of life. Experiments that would take months can now be carried out in days. But ours is not an ideal world. Researchers wrestle with fickle software, challenges to experimental design, and a host of other problems.

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We just learned that our Marketing Science (2000) paper on online customer experience (working paper version) was the most cited article in that journal over the last ten years.  Pretty neat!  Interestingly, only three of the cites to our article came from Marketing Science articles, suggesting, among other things, that articles in that journal are having an impact that reaches beyond that single journal. 

Neslin, Scott A., Thomas P. Novak, Kenneth R. Baker, and Donna L. Hoffman, “An Optimal Contact Model for Maximizing Online Panel Response Rates,” (August 2006).

Abstract.  We develop and test an optimization model for maximizing response rates for online marketing research survey panels.  The model consists of:  (1) a decision tree predictive model that classifies panelists into “states” and forecasts the response rate for panelists in each state, and (2) a linear program that derives a plan specifying how many panelists should be solicited from each state in order to maximize response rates.  The linear program is forward looking in that it optimizes over a finite horizon during which S studies are to be fielded.  It takes into account the desired number of responses for each study, the likely migration pattern of panelists between states as they are invited and respond or don’t respond, as well as demographic requirements.  The model is implemented using a rolling horizon, whereby the optimal solution for S successive studies is derived and implemented for the first study; then, as results are observed, an optimal solution is derived for the next S studies, and the solution is implemented for the first of these studies, etc.  The procedure is field tested and shown to increase response rates significantly, compared to random selection and the heuristic currently being used by panel management.  Implications are discussed for further model development, implementation issues for online panel managers, and for the broader area of optimal contact models in customer relationship management.  Download pdf.

It’s hard to miss the news of Mel Gibson’s recent DUI arrest - picked up for speeding on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu last Friday (July 28), Mr. Gibson spewed forth with anti-semitic comments and generally acted like a celebrity behaving badly. 

But real news is how fast this all hit the ether - barely hours after the incident, TMZ.com posted a scan of  several pages of the arresting officer’s handwritten report, and alleged a police cover-up.  The Internet metes out Celebrity Justice - over and over, one post after another.

Sadly, no one is terribly shocked that Gibson would say this stuff (cf. Holocaust denier pater familias Gibson and the not-exactly Jewish-friendly “Passion of the Christ”).

Today’s New York Times reported that Disney/ABC has dropped plans to produce Gibson’s “Holocaust-themed miniseries.”  (I’m not making this up - it’s weird here in California.)

Anyway, thanks to the Internet, Gibson is suffering through all kinds of negative press, business backlash, and angry blog comments.  From a political perspective, it sure is really bad timing.

Off to rehab he goes; count on the Net to keep us posted at the speed of light…