Zappos.com 2009: Clothing, Customer Service, and Company Culture - Case Solution

1. What makes Zappos.com’s customer service so special?

At Zappos.com, the main focus & strategy has been company culture based on 10 core values through which a realm of appreciated customer loyalty is created.

Zappos believed that the company’s rapid growth was due to its repeat customers, who were responsible for 75 percent of orders.

For 96 percent of sales placed, customer service took the form of fast, free shipping (in both directions), a wide selection of more than 1200 brands (2.9 million products in inventory), the availability of special sizes, and a highly intuitive, consumer-friendly interface.

The marketing departments at Zappos have a personal relationship with vendors & work together to represent all products offered to customers.

Zappos provides a 365-day return policy, giving the customers freedom of time and choice. Zappos to date surprises its customers through overnight deliveries.

Zappos cherishes a personal emotional connection (PEC) with customers through the customer loyalty team (CLT), which handles an average of 5100 calls per day.

The CLT members were called problem solvers since they addressed queries of customers that they could not answer for themselves.

In traditional call centers, a time limit is imposed on workers to finish the customer call, whereas, in Zappos, no such limit exists.

The management doesn’t want its customers to feel rushed, which ultimately might result in word-of-mouth communication for new customers.

After such conversations, CLT members routinely sent hand-written thank you notes to customers and bouquets of flowers or boxes of candy in sympathy or celebration. This helped in strengthening the…