Sounds easy enough, right? We’re all used to hearing the saying “the customer is always right.” It’s common sense, isn’t it?
Apparently not.
It’s old hat at this point to toss around Zappos as an example of a good business model. If you’ve read even one marketing or business magazine in the last few years, you’ve probably heard all about their willingness to embrace social media and their fun, kooky office culture. Which is great. That explains why their employees love it, and therefore why the company reposes such trust in its employees.
But why do the customers love it? Well, because of the fact that the business trusts its employees and encourages its call center workers to do things like spend hours on the phone with a customer to make sure his or her question gets answered, or send a thank you note and flowers, or even direct a customer to a rival site if Zappos.com is out of stock on a particular item. The employees are truly invested in helping the client get what he or she needs and wants, without the usual customer service nastiness and disinterest. A positive experience generates positive buzz. Pure and simple. Any press may be good press because it gets you air time, but positive buzz is the thing that translates into respect and loyalty from both employees and consumers. In the current downward-trending climate, every company should be doing whatever it can to hold on to both.
In other words, trust your employees. Respect your consumers. Both will reward you for it.
Today it was announced the Amazon.com acquired Zappos for 10Million shares in AMZN Stock and an immediate $40Million cash injection in AMZN stock and cash to Zappos employees. The approximate cost to AMZN is $900Million+.
Guess the big question is why? Makes sense to us - its the customer stupid!
How many times have you placed a call to a customer service line and an automated system picks up; or received a branded email message saying Buy This but do NOT reply; or wished that the company had a twitter account so that you could tweet your positive emotions about their brand and come to find they don’t have one? We have and it has irritated us to no end.
Zappos (as we all know) is all about customer service and that is what (seemingly) Amazon is buying. Amazon may have felt a little competitive threat from Zappos, but I think it was more about tapping into the “Zappos Culture” more than anything. Amazon identified this as a key to thrive in this new business economy. Why not then purchase the company that understands it best. By servicing the customer on every conceivable level Zappos has built extreme customer loyalty through facilitating a superior user experience and Amazon wants to be the premiere e-tailer in the world - a symbiotic relationship in cyberspace.
The key to this relationship is how Amazon takes over the reigns and what is done from a top down approach. At this time, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is saying nothing is going to change and the relationship should be said like the jingle “Zappos and Amazon sitting in a tree…”
Time will only tell - but here are a few thoughts from Jeff Bezos on his take of his purchase.
What do you guys think?
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