Australia's online magazine for entrepreneurs & SMEs

Retail, online, and they love it

Thursday, 4 December 2008

By Kirsty Dunphey

My favourite read of the day comes from Bob Nelson’s newsletter where he shares that Zappo’s, the up-and-coming women’s shoe online retailer that offers free shipping for both orders and returns, offers all employees $1500 to quit their job after they have finished the company’s initial two to four week training orientation. It’s the final test if they have hired the right employees…

Talk about money where your mouth is! I love Zappo’s dedication to getting it right.

What else is Zappo’s doing right?

Communication: Twitter shows you Zappo’s staff and even their CEO is using Twitter to communicate with and engage their customers.

Contagious culture: Each year Zappos 31 year old CEO asks each employee to write a description of the culture of the organisation. Something’s working with employees writing statements like: “Everyone at Zappos is so warm and inviting, like a nice bowl of oatmeal.”

Fan-makers: Their customer service creates fans. From the standard “customers can order shoes as late as 11 p.m. and still get next-day delivery” to the extraordinary as shown in this online testimonial:

“My wife had ordered a pair of sandals from Zappos. When they arrived, she found that they didn't fit. She tried to order the right size, but Zappos was sold out of her size. So here's what the company offered: she could return the sandals (for free), Zappos would refund the purchase price and they'd send her a $25 coupon toward her next purchase.

But wait — there's more! Zappos also offered to try to locate a pair of the sandals in her size from another vendor. (Hah! Sure, they will!) Fifteen minutes later, the company called my wife and told her they'd found her sandals, in her size, at another online merchant — "and," the Zappos clerk told her, "they're even cheaper at this other site!"

So... in short, their staff love them, the public love them and their customers love them and wait… they sell SHOES! Seem’s like a great start to me!

Kirsty Dunphey is the youngest ever Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year, author of two books (her latest release is Retired at 27, If I can do it anyone can) and a passionate entrepreneur who started at age 15 and opened her own real estate agency at 21. Currently Kirsty heads up www.reallysold.comthe premium online copywriting site for real estate agents and is a co-director of Elephant Property www.elephantproperty.com.auLaunceston, Tasmania's only boutique real estate agency purely for investment property owners. Kirsty's other ventures are outlined at her website www.kirstydunphey.comwhere you can also sign up for her newsletter.