When many people hear the word Zappos, they think about shoes.  That is partially correct.  Zappos is a major player in the shoe game online, but their company thrives and is centered around one thing, customer service.

So much of our economy is centered around chasing revenue and meeting market expectations etc.  While having capital to continue operating is important, caring about your customer is more important.  Customers don’t want to be a number or just another face in the crowd.  They want to feel close and cared about by the brands they love.  Your customers keep you in business, care about them, not their money.

Zappos has used strategic moves to serve their customers to the fullest.  Zappos operates their warehouse in Kentucky 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  Running a 24 hour warehouse is not the most cost-effective.  It would be cheaper & more efficient to let orders pile-up and let the picker gather a larger number of orders.  However, this practice slows down delivery.  Zappos picks your shoes when you hit the “Submit” button.

The next key in their strategy is Kentucky.  You may be confused like, what, Kentucky… What the #&$^?!  The Zappos warehouse is located just 15 minutes away from the UPS hub located in Louisville, KY.  If you’ve shipped UPS, chances are your package went through the hub in Louisville.  If you order a new set of Crocs at 10:59 p.m., Zappos can have them picked from inventory and on a UPS plane before midnight and you’ll have them the next morning!    Oh, did I mention they will upgrade you to overnight shipping without your knowledge just to surprise you for free.  Zappos calls this the “wow” effect.  They want you to say, “wow!” with every aspect of their company you deal with; ordering, customer service, delivery, you name it.

Zappos by nature is a customer service company that just happens to sell shoes.  Take a look at this real customer feedback:

I don’t purchase a lot of stuff on the Internet, but you guys really changed my mind into doing more. I was going to purchase my shoes with another online store, but I decided to go with you because of the free shipping both ways. So, I placed my order at 4:45am on Thursday. And you did not disappoint! You upgraded my shipping to next day for free, and I am wearing the shoes as I type on Friday at 9:40am. That is what customer service is all about! Thanks, you just earned a lifelong customer by doing the little things right! Again, Thanks

It’s all about doing the right thing.  A recent computer glitch at Zappos caused their prices to be incredibly lower than what they should be listed at.  The funky pricing only lasted about 6 hours.  There were $1500 items selling for only $50 on one of their associated domains.  Orders came in at those prices and Zappos honored that price.  Zappos ended up losing $1.6 million dollars on this 6-hour glitch.  But without even thinking, they honored those prices.  Why scorn their customers when it was their computer glitch that caused the problem, right?  They may have lost out big on those products, but what will that choice do for them in the long-term?  Lots!

Zappos is a perfect cultural atmosphere to study and try to model any business after.  It’s about doing the right thing, caring about your customers and doing the little things.  Little things go a long way, in the long run. Zappos isn’t worried about this quarters revenue; Zappos is concerned about the long-term impacts of their actions.

Don’t sprint, you’re running a marathon.

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Want to learn more about Zappos?  I suggest this 10 minute Nightline segment produced by ABC News.  It really captures what Zappos is all about