Zappos Case

1. When Zappos was founded they wanted to provide the ultimate in shoe selection to its customers—all brands, styles, sizes, and colors. What aspects of the business did they need to create/organize to provide the ultimate consumer experience? What were the challenges and how did they overcome them?

Zappos was a new market idea, founded by Nick Swinmurn in 1999 and their main focus was to sell shoes online. When Swinmurn proposed the idea of selling shoes online, he was turned down from many investors, as they consider that web selling is not profitable. Also, brands consider Internet as ‘a place where everything would be discounted and their brand would be ruined.’ However, once the first brand of shoes sign up with Zappos, it became easier to attract other shoe brands. Zappos focused their attention on signing brands where customers asked for over the phone or they searched for on the webpage.In order though to provide the ultimate online experience and make customers confident to buy shoes online, Zappos had to overcome a lot of challenges. Firstly, Zappos website loaded faster than any other retail website. Also, apart from online orders, they also provided telephone support, with answer in less than 20 seconds, and had a toll-free phone number, which was prominently displayed on all webpages. Also, Zappos had to go above and beyond customers’ expectactions and therefore offered free overnight shipping as well as free returns for unsatisfied customers. Furthermore, if customers felt uncertain about a product or had questions with regards to shipping etc, Zappos provided extensive online product information and maintain a call centre. Lastly, Zappos core values helped developed a positive environment for their employees, creating a fun and a little weirdness environment. Zappos employees were happy, committed and willing to provide the WOW experience.

2. What does “Wow!” mean to Zappos – and how do they embrace this core value?

To Hsieh it was always about finding new ways to WOW the experience of the customer, as stated in Zappos website ‘At Zappos, Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Doing With Wow’. Even though WOW is a small world it has a bigger meaning and encompasses a lot of things. Firstly, in order to WOW employees need to differentiate themselves by doing something ‘a little unconventional and innovative’. Secondly, employees need to go above and beyond the expectations, as well as have an emotional impact to the receiver. Thirdly, Zappos expects their employees to deliver their best service whether it’s internally with co-workers or externally with customers. Zappos philosophy is to WOW with service and experience and not with monetary compensation.

Furthermore, Hsieh stressed out the importance of customers service and satisfaction from the overall experience, were Hsieh consider customer service as an investment. Therefore, Zappos wanted