Question

Chapter 12 in the “Questions and Exercises” section of 12.4 answer questions #1 & 3.

In what ways is data collected at Rent the Runway?

How does data enhance the customer experience?

How does data enhance firm operations? How does it help cut costs and improve efficiency?

Answer 1

In what ways is data collected at Rent the Runway?

Collection of data by rent the runway:

• Basics : Rent the runway being an online operated service provider captures all the activities (from surfing by customers to the products rented) that takes place on its portal, in form of data generated by the platform (website and app).
• Technical: There are tags attached all over the websites/app, so when a user goes to particular part of web/app those tags start tracing activity and sends data to the analytics platform (to which the tag belongs)
• What data is collected and seen: Some of key things rent the runway looks into are:
  • The utilization of each product, i.e. what % of total time it is rent.
  • What are the trending things, like what type of dresses are renting more, what colour etc.
  • What designers are having good time
  • How logistics is performing and what is the best method for it
  • What is the time required to make dress available for renting again (Turn around time).
  • What are the combinations customers are generally renting, like a white jewellery with a pink dress? etc.

How does data enhance the customer experience?

• Data acts as a prime tool for firms to improve their offerings and experience, from a perspective of customer.
• So with the advent of big data and advance analytics, the rate at which data is improving customer experience is exponential.
• Take example of google: Google stores all the surfing searching data of the individual and it uses this data for providing results more appropriate to the individual, on the basis of previous behavioural data. This in-turn has improved our experience of surfing by leaps and bounds in last few years.
• We can take example of rent the runway only , it suggests what you can rent along with the dress you rented (based on previous data) , so improving customers experience of renting.

How does data enhance firm operations? How does it help cut costs and improve efficiency?

• With better knowledge of customer, market and trends firms are well aware of :
  • Which offering or aspect of offering can be improved?
  • What more they can bring introduce?
  • What is not working well and should not waste energy in it. Etc.
• The knowledge of factors like these helps firm to strategize well, hence enhancing the overall operations of the firm.
• Firms knows various aspects of operational performance, like:
  • What is the turnaround time, is it good or can be improved.
  • How logistics is performing.
  • What are the operational losses and reasons behind them?
  • What products are not selling etc.?
• So having knowledge of these firms eliminates the inefficiency, and hence in turn increasing the efficiency and reducing the costs