Zappos and Customer Centricity

Everyone is talking about Zappos. Honestly, I’m getting to the point of burnout on hearing about Zappos in marketing circles. That’s pretty impressive. When did this happen? Well, I heard about them a few years ago. What I heard about them was how great their customer service was. And still today that is what people are talking about.

Here’s a unique piece that speaks about how they offer workers $1,000 (!) to quit their jobs in order to weed out the people not totally committed to customer satisfaction. That’s cool stuff.

This is the nature of marketing. Zappos hit critical mass a long time ago. And why? They are just a shoe store; an online shoe store with great customer service. Big deal. The secret to Zappos’ success is real commitment that permeates through every customer and every transaction, every time. The point here is that smart people in suits lying through traditional methods won’t sell any more products; especially commodities. And shoes are commodities (maybe not by true definition) but in the fact that any the same shoes you buy at Zappos can be bought at ten other online shoe stores. The reason Zappos succeeds is that they are adding value to otherwise indiscernible products. The service is the product. Marketers today have to embrace their ability to add value through organizational processes.

Our ability to add value is the make or break for many companies.