Zappos: Facing Competitive Challenges

CASE:

"Zappos: Facing Competitive Challenges"

"What challenges is Zappos facing that may derail its attempt to be best online retailer? How can training and development help Zappos meet these challenges? Do you think that employees at Zappos have high levels of engagement? Why? Which of Zappos's 10 core values do you believe training and development can influence the most? The least? Why?"

The vision of Zappos is that, in future online sales will account for 30 percent of all retail sales in the United States and will be the company with best service and selection such as offer more shoes, handbags, eyewear, watches and accessories for online purchase. Zappos also believes they can become the online service leader, drawing customers and expanding into selling other product other than been offered. They also believes that the speed at which a customer receives an online purchase plays a critical role in how that customer thinks about shopping online again in the future, so it is focusing on making sure the items get delivered to customer as soon as possible. The new technology and impact of internet have large impact on all sectors of the economy.

Their main objectives are to help customers easy shopping, and every pair of shoes in inventory of total 58,000 pairs is pictured at 8 different angles. They also will do best service to their customer, and to make it happened and to ensure fast delivery, Zappos located its warehouses next to UPS' airports and make them work 24 hours daily, 7 days per weeks.

Zappos also come out with other business strategis such as free return which is no successful examples before in E-shoe retailing because it's too easy to buy the wrong shoes and they need to relief customers' discomposure as well as minimize the cost. The founder of Zappos, Xie designed E-mail system for Zappos to automatically reply customers' e-mail of return requests. Zaopps also paid $100 millions as a shipping cost for all returns and redeliveries.

Training can play a key role in helping companies especially internet base business company gain a competitive advantage and successfully deal with competitive challenges. The WOW service training and development core value can influence the most from others. It is because they are encouraging their workers to be different from others, practices help to perpetuate their company culture. The Zappos have high levels of engagement and also least engagement because they have their own core values. Zappos have their own core values that shaped them with their company's culture, brand and business strategy. These are the ten core values:

 Deliver WOW Through Service

WOW is such a short, simple word, but it really encompasses a lot of things. To WOW, you must differentiate yourself, which means doing something