zappos
i regularly read two magazines, inc and wired. the most recent issue of inc had a great article on online shoe retailer, zappos.com, and their CEO, tony hsieh. zappos is a remarkable company that focuses heavily on customer service. inc offers 5 ways zappos makes their customers happy: try everything, let people be themselves, get serious about training, open up, and get happy. the last point is what is truly interesting about zappos. hsieh really focuses on happiness, not just the bottom line – and that’s exactly what makes them so successful.
The next step for Zappos? Happiness. Hsieh has decided to focus on the concept as a way to boost productivity and to grow sales, which hit $1 billion last year. He’s been giving employees books on how to be happier and has been tweaking the way his company promotes employees to give them a greater sense of control. For customers, he has focused on the art of surprise. Zappos advertises free ground shipping, but most orders are mailed overnight. The idea is to give customers an unexpected sense of joy–and, of course, to get them to buy another pair of shoes.
i would highly recommend going out and buying this issue (i’ve already handed mine up to homage). at the least, you should definitely check out the feature on inc.com and read scoble’s post that digs even deeper into the great things zappos does.
this is the type of company i want to work for. this is the kind of company i want to build.
