Zappos.com Case Study
Zappos as a shoe company was determined to provide its customers with the best shoes. This move therefore allowed the company to be able to focus its efforts on customer service. This was therefore the best thing which allowed the company to be able to attract a lot of customers. This is majorly because, most customers tend to like the services offered by the company, before becoming loyal customers (David, 4). The proper customer service offered by the company therefore became an advantage to the company, as it was able to offer the services which other companies could not be able to offer.
In addition, Zappos was an online company existing in the 90’s and it therefore faced less competition. The company’s culture therefore became one of the company’s core determiners of performance in the years to come. The culture of trying to impress each and every person that the company comes into contact with, was one of the best strategies which the company used in order to be able to beat its competitors (David, 4). This is basically because, the company was able to attract the attention of most people, through engaging them into the online website, a move which consequently makes people to spread positive information regarding the company through the word of mouth.
Secondly, the company decided to come up with a toll free customer care number, which the customers could be able to call in case of any questions or concerns. This was one of few company’s which had a toll free number, and it therefore made it easier for most customers to be able to call the customer care in case of any issues (David, 4). In addition, most customers felt attracted to the company, as it was ready to solve their problems, through allowing them to call the company for free at any time.
In order for the company to be able to beat its competitors which were the brick-and-mortar stores, it had to first and foremost understand their strength and weaknesses. This therefore allowed Zappos to be able to come up with solutions to the possible ways of growing the company, through beating its main competitors (David, 5). Zappos was an online company, and it was therefore supposed to work very hard in order to be able to beat brick-and-mortar stores. Zappos came up with different approaches of winning over the customers, which included the following. Providing a wide product information, offering free returns, maintaining a call center and offering free overnight shipping.
These strategies allowed the company to have a competitive advantage as compared to brick-and-mortar stores which could not be able to offer such services (David, 6). Zappos was able to provide wide information on its website, concerning the ways through which customers could be able to get the best shoes. This consequently allowed the customers to rely on the company, as it acted as their shoes advisors. Maintaining a call center, was also another thing which most customers were in need of, since brick-and-mortar stores could not offer such services. This consequently allowed the customers to ask questions, particularly new customers regarding the purchase and shipment of their products.
Offering free returns was also a very good strategy which the company had employed, as it allowed it to be able to enable the customers to feel at ease particularly when the shoes they purchased could not fit them (David, 5). This allowed the customer to be able to see the company as caring, hence becoming loyal customers. Finally, offering free overnight shipment consequently allowed most customers to be able to buy shoes from the website, in order to get free shipments at night. This consequently attracted most customers, since brick-and-mortar stores did not offer delivery services to the customers.
The key elements of Zappos were the fit and return policy, online product information, the call center and free delivery of shoes (David, 7). These elements were the main drivers of development within the organization, as they enabled it in being able to create a wide market share. The fit and return policy was very significant for the company, as it allowed most customers to be able to get the right shoes which could be able to fit them. This was therefore a move which was aimed at ensuring that the customers get themselves the right shoes. The production of online information, was basically important for the company, as it could be able to provide different images of the shoes to the customers, as they would be able to view it in a store. Moreover, it also provided them with information concerning the right types of shoes for their legs.
Free delivery of shoes, was a strategy which was aimed at increasing the company’s market share. Most customers would therefore order different types if shoes, so that those which could not fit them, could be returned (David, 8). The free delivery therefore allowed the customers’ who ordered a lot of shoes to find themselves even purchasing more shoes. In order for Zappos to effectively maximize its services, it needed a call center. The call center was therefore responsible for allowing the customers to ask the questions they had, and to also find out more about the company. In addition, the company had a section where customers could comment, thus allowing other customers to review the comments in order to understand the types of services offered by the company.
Zappos worked with different companies in order for it to be able to offer better services to its customers. The company therefore decided to take orders from the customers, whereby it would then send the information to the shoe manufacturer, after which the shoe manufacturer could be able to deal with the customers (David, 10). This move was however faced with a lot of challenges, since the shoe manufacturing companies could take a longer period of time in delivering the products to the customers. Zappos was consequently forced to start its own inventory, whereby it decided to change its ways of conducting different services.
Zappos started selling the shoes directly to its customers, a move which allowed it to be able to attract and retain more customers (David, 14). This approach allowed Zappos to sell the products to customers directly, hence retaining its culture of impressing the employees. On the other hand, Zappos started acquiring new online websites, where it was able to sell and market a lot of products. Zappos systems of operations had to change from time to time, in order to allow the company to be able to effectively measure the effectiveness of different approaches. Moreover, the company also wanted to maintain its culture, hence being able to saturate the American market.
Work Cited
David Hoyt. Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! STANFORD Graduate School of Business. 2011. Print.
