Zappos Case Study

Eric Smith

Marketing 347-101

Zappos Case

Zappos was so successful in its first 10 years because of its company’s culture and customer service. These are two major factors in why they were so successful. They have the philosophy that “you can’t have happy customers without having happy employees, and you can’t have happy employees without having a company where people are inspired by the culture.”(Zappos.com) This is one thing they live by that makes their customers so pleased to shop with them. Zappos created ten core values that which include pursue growth and learning, be passionate and determined, create fun, and a little weirdness to specify a few. Their culture caught on and other companies, the media, and academics were interested in learning about it. Zappos ended up having guided tours at their headquarters so they could learn about Zappos. When it came to hiring people, candidates had to undergo two interviews, a traditional skill based interview and a culture interview. They only hired people that were great for the company, having skills and being able to fit into the culture. If a person was egotistical there’s not even a discussion that they wouldn’t be hired. These were major factors in their success with their company culture. When it comes to customer service they are one of the best. In their call centers they don’t have a time limit on their calls like a lot of companies do. They want the customer to think “Wow, I didn’t feel rushed.” Their vision is that “they’ll tell 10 of their closest friends and they’ll become customers.”(Zappos.com) One call center member set a record of 5 hours and 20 minutes on the phone with a customer, the previous record was just over 4 hours. These calls even turned into personal conversation after helping the person. This shows that they really care about the customer. When it comes to fulfilling orders and getting orders out to customers, they are one of the fastest. They get the orders ready within hours and...