Executive Summary: Zillow is a real estate company that offers various products targeted at both home buyers and sellers. Its services include, amongst other, advertising tools for agents and other real estate professionals, a home-buying business, or marketplace to advertise homes for sale and rent. The business model of Zillow is comprised of three distinct segments, namely Homes, IMT, and Mortgages. The company makes money by flipping homes (and charging a sales fee), collecting fees…
Executive Summary: trivago is a hotel booking platform that gathers and displays listings from over 100+ travel-related websites across the web. Users can browse a selection of over 2.5 million hotels and make a booking on trivago’s partner site (including platforms such as AirBnB or Booking.com). The business model of trivago is based on a Cost-Per-Click (CPC) model. The company, therefore, makes money whenever a user clicks on one of its listings. Another source of…
The role of a product manager may differ largely, depending on the aspects such as the size of a company, its products, seniority, as well as prior education. As part of our Product Manager vs. series, we’ll explore similarities and differences between product management and other roles commonly observed in organizations. You can find the other articles listed here. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how product managers compare to business analysts…
Executive Summary: Instacart is a delivery platform that partners with so-called shoppers to deliver groceries within hours of an order. The company partners with over 30 retailers across the United States and Canada. The business model of Instacart is based on charging a delivery and service fee for every order made on its platform. The company furthermore makes money from receiving a share of the order volume, a subscription service (called Instacart Express), as well…
Executive Summary: Opendoor is a real estate platform that buys, sells, and trades homes online. The company utilizes artificial intelligence and other technological aids (such as an app) to speed up and improve its operations. The business model of Opendoor is based on selling the houses it buys up for a profit. The company furthermore makes money through a sales fee (paid by the home seller) as well as interest on mortgage loans. Founded in…
Eventbrite is an online event management and ticketing platform, which allows almost anyone to create, promote, and host events. These events are either hosted on-site or online and span across hundreds of categories, including music festivals, yoga classes, and many more. The business model of Eventbrite is based on charging transaction fees (paid either by customers or organizers) for every ticket sold. The company furthermore makes money from renting out physical equipment (e.g. scanning devices)…
Executive Summary: Stitch Fix is an online personal styling service that uses a combination of technology and human input to come up with styling suggestions. These styles, called Fix, are then shipped to the customer. Suggestions are based on the customer’s body type, gender, preferences, and past purchasing behavior. The business model of Stitch Fix is based on selling the clothes. The company offers over 1,000 brands as well as their own white-label clothing (called…
Executive Summary: HelloFresh is an online food delivery company that creates and ships meal kits for groups of two and four. Customers can choose from a variety of plans, including vegetarian, family-friendly, or low-calorie meals. The business model of HelloFresh is based on charging customers a subscription fee. The price paid is dependent upon the frequency of food ordered (two to four times per week) as well as the number of people it’s ordered for…
Executive Summary: Etsy is an online marketplace that offers handmade, vintage, or craft items from sellers around the world. Items are sold in categories such as Clothing & Shoes, Home & Living, and many more. The business model of Etsy is based on charging sellers a fee for listing products and whenever a successful sale is made. Additional sources of income include a website builder tool, Etsy Plus, product advertising, and payment processing. Founded in…
Executive Summary: Carvana is an online platform that buys and sells used cars. The whole buying experience takes place online, and consumers got the choice to have their cars delivered to their homes or pick them up at one of the company’s famous car vending machines. The business model of Carvana is based on selling the cars it buys up at a higher rate than they were purchased for. Additionally, the company makes money by…
