Zappos.com: How to earn $ 1 billion on shoes?
Hi, habradrug!
In Russian, recently published a book about a successful startup Zappos.com.
I share my impression of her.
“Delivering Happiness” is the book by Tony Neck, CEO of the largest American online shoe store Zappos.com. Yes, “Delivering Happiness” is a literal translation of Delivering Happiness, but in my opinion a more correct version is “From the life of Tony Neck, CEO of Zappos.com”. In the book, he talks a lot about himself, about his entrepreneurial experience and, of course, about how Zapos was built. We know it not many, so I will give a brief information:
Founded in 1999, sold to Amazon.com for $ 1.2 billion in 2009. The turnover is more than 1'000'000'000 dollars per year. At the moment, the largest online store selling shoes and clothing. The company has more than 1,500 employees. Read more at Wikipedia (eng) .
This is the same store that David Hennsson from 37signals says when they talk about choosing a startup idea “They sell f * ckin 'shoes” . Type do not reinvent the wheel, but implement well existing ideas. Perhaps this was the path taken by Fast Lane Ventures, making a copy of Zappos.com in Russia. I wonder how the fate of this project .
')
Commentary on the translation: for some reason, instead of the well-established phrase “wow effect”, “wow feeling” is used. There are other complaints.
.
The first part of the book frankly did not like. Firstly, because of the style of presentation, secondly, because of the presence of banalities in the spirit of comparing business with the game of poker:
Although, of course, there is a fan too. According to the behavior of Tony reminds many of my friends. As a result, unlike other business books, the spirit of start-ups wakes up when read. “He’s just like you,” just “grab and do,” as Branson says.
At first, Shay began working at Oracle, but he quickly got fed up with it and went from there to do his projects. Oddly enough, the first business was a web studio that he founded with a friend. He was quickly tired of that too and in 1996 Tony Shay founded the Link Exchange with the same friend - a banner exchange network sold by Microsoft for $ 265 million in 1998. And in 1999, Zappos.com was born - first as one of the projects invested by the freshly baked Shay Foundation , and already in 2001 it was taken under complete control.
But the second and third parts are what I wanted to learn about Zappos,but I was afraid to ask .
Shea tells how they manage to maintain a high level of customer service. After all, this is one of the "whales", which keeps the company. For example, they try to deliver your order in 1 day, instead of the promised 7. Also, if the order arrives before 12 at night, it can be delivered by 8 am! For this, the main warehouse was located near the central UPS hub ( United Parcel Service, eng ).
Zappos.com tries to pleasantly surprise customers by providing additional services. There is an opportunity to return the purchased goods within a year (sic!) After purchase. Caring is impressive. An example is also the story of how at one of the parties his friends could not order pizza in the hotel room. Some of them jokingly suggested calling Zappos to resolve the situation. The experiment was a success and the operator dictated the phones of the nearest pizzerias working 24 hours. All this is the CEO of Zappos and calls the wow effect causing the viral spread of information about your company. He advises to seek it in any business.
The second unique feature of the company, he calls corporate culture. Relationships in a team are like family relationships. And this is the result of many years of work in this direction. For example, at the beginning each employee must undergo training and practice in a call center. And the one who leaves during the first month of work will receive $ 2,000. Thus, "strangers" are eliminated. In general, the description of creating a unique working atmosphere recalls books about Starbucks.
Shea also points out the mistakes he made on the Link Exchange when they took on almost everyone in a row during a period of rapid growth (of suitable candidates, of course). This led to the fact that after a certain period he was not working in a team of like-minded people.
In general, I liked the book. Very pleased with the fact that there are more and more books about startups.
Marketers, startups and those who want to build a customer-oriented service are required to read.
In Russian, recently published a book about a successful startup Zappos.com.
I share my impression of her.
“Delivering Happiness” is the book by Tony Neck, CEO of the largest American online shoe store Zappos.com. Yes, “Delivering Happiness” is a literal translation of Delivering Happiness, but in my opinion a more correct version is “From the life of Tony Neck, CEO of Zappos.com”. In the book, he talks a lot about himself, about his entrepreneurial experience and, of course, about how Zapos was built. We know it not many, so I will give a brief information:
Founded in 1999, sold to Amazon.com for $ 1.2 billion in 2009. The turnover is more than 1'000'000'000 dollars per year. At the moment, the largest online store selling shoes and clothing. The company has more than 1,500 employees. Read more at Wikipedia (eng) .
This is the same store that David Hennsson from 37signals says when they talk about choosing a startup idea “They sell f * ckin 'shoes” . Type do not reinvent the wheel, but implement well existing ideas. Perhaps this was the path taken by Fast Lane Ventures, making a copy of Zappos.com in Russia. I wonder how the fate of this project .
')
Commentary on the translation: for some reason, instead of the well-established phrase “wow effect”, “wow feeling” is used. There are other complaints.
.
The first part of the book frankly did not like. Firstly, because of the style of presentation, secondly, because of the presence of banalities in the spirit of comparing business with the game of poker:
- Engage in self-education. Read books, learn from predecessors
- Learn by doing. Theory is fine, but nothing replaces real experience.
- Winning one game does not mean that you are a good player and that you do not need to learn anymore. You might just be lucky
Although, of course, there is a fan too. According to the behavior of Tony reminds many of my friends. As a result, unlike other business books, the spirit of start-ups wakes up when read. “He’s just like you,” just “grab and do,” as Branson says.
At first, Shay began working at Oracle, but he quickly got fed up with it and went from there to do his projects. Oddly enough, the first business was a web studio that he founded with a friend. He was quickly tired of that too and in 1996 Tony Shay founded the Link Exchange with the same friend - a banner exchange network sold by Microsoft for $ 265 million in 1998. And in 1999, Zappos.com was born - first as one of the projects invested by the freshly baked Shay Foundation , and already in 2001 it was taken under complete control.
But the second and third parts are what I wanted to learn about Zappos,
Shea tells how they manage to maintain a high level of customer service. After all, this is one of the "whales", which keeps the company. For example, they try to deliver your order in 1 day, instead of the promised 7. Also, if the order arrives before 12 at night, it can be delivered by 8 am! For this, the main warehouse was located near the central UPS hub ( United Parcel Service, eng ).
Zappos.com tries to pleasantly surprise customers by providing additional services. There is an opportunity to return the purchased goods within a year (sic!) After purchase. Caring is impressive. An example is also the story of how at one of the parties his friends could not order pizza in the hotel room. Some of them jokingly suggested calling Zappos to resolve the situation. The experiment was a success and the operator dictated the phones of the nearest pizzerias working 24 hours. All this is the CEO of Zappos and calls the wow effect causing the viral spread of information about your company. He advises to seek it in any business.
The second unique feature of the company, he calls corporate culture. Relationships in a team are like family relationships. And this is the result of many years of work in this direction. For example, at the beginning each employee must undergo training and practice in a call center. And the one who leaves during the first month of work will receive $ 2,000. Thus, "strangers" are eliminated. In general, the description of creating a unique working atmosphere recalls books about Starbucks.
Shea also points out the mistakes he made on the Link Exchange when they took on almost everyone in a row during a period of rapid growth (of suitable candidates, of course). This led to the fact that after a certain period he was not working in a team of like-minded people.
In general, I liked the book. Very pleased with the fact that there are more and more books about startups.
Marketers, startups and those who want to build a customer-oriented service are required to read.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/111267/
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