The Strategies Behind an Online Retailer's Success
Posted by Universal Ad at Tuesday, August 14, 2007 11:23 AM and is filed under online,startegy,Retail 
Marketing Sherpa posted an interview with the CEO of Zappos.com explaining how they had grown into the #1 online shoe retailer.
Their customer-centric focus (i.e., get customers to make repeat purchases and make them more often) has helped them become much more profitable. By using low-key marketing programs and concentrating on customer retention, they achieved a $6-to-$1 ratio on actual sales vs marketing dollars. All this with a marketing team of nine (up from five last year)!
The interesting part of the article is the CEO's Top 10 list of lessons that helped make them so successful (caveat - these will not work for everyone, of course). The lessons listed include:
Their customer-centric focus (i.e., get customers to make repeat purchases and make them more often) has helped them become much more profitable. By using low-key marketing programs and concentrating on customer retention, they achieved a $6-to-$1 ratio on actual sales vs marketing dollars. All this with a marketing team of nine (up from five last year)!
The interesting part of the article is the CEO's Top 10 list of lessons that helped make them so successful (caveat - these will not work for everyone, of course). The lessons listed include:
- Get great word-of-mouth through excellent customer service
- Retain customers with free shipping and fulfillment operations
- Test new features and products in beta before the full roll-out
- Focus on service and selection over price discounts and coupons
- View customer service as an investment, not an operational expense
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