Zappos Case Study

Founded in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn, Zappos.com, initially named ShoeSite.com, has grown from an inventory-less, “drop-ship” shoe sales website that connected customer orders with shoe suppliers to an Internet shoe mega-retailer that recorded a reported $2.1 billion in revenue in

This report was prepared to study the potential benefits that a flexible work schedule can provide to ABC Inc. This report is to show Carla Green the pros and cons that accompany introducing a more flexible scheduling policy.

Zappos is an online shoe retailer that started its business in the year 1999. Later, the company had expanded its business to include the beauty products, clothing and even the housewares within its leading e-commerce website. This case emphasizes on the customer service department of Zappos Company and initially the business focused only on the drop ship method. Eventually, the company also increased the variety of the products. The company had also created a bricks and mortar storefront to expand the business and increase the sales of the business. The management of the company had taken an innovative approach to earn their required return on investment. They had emphasized on customer service and the employee training programs to gain

CEO scheduled 2days program for Factory & corporate office visit for Striker. Next day Striker visits the MKK’s zipper factory & observed the overall production to dispatch process. The following day he visits corporate office & request to meet with the sales department.

Nick Swinmurn, who was inspired during an unsuccessful search for shoes, founded Zappos in 1999 (Zappos.com, 2015). He realized the opportunity, as there were no major online shoe retailers, so he quit his day job and started Zappos.com. Nick’s mission was to be a full-service online shoe retailer offering the best variety of shoes. Over the years, Zappos has set a new mission, which is to provide unsurpassed customer service in any category (Zappos.com, 2015).

On the other hand, Bon Secours may enhance their variable day where employees may work a regular calendar of a varied number of hours each day as long as they attain the expected number of times within the week. Also, Job share may be incorporated in the form of regular part-time work in which two people assigned the responsibilities of one position, splitting hours and responsibilities evenly or unevenly. At last, the health care may set up a network of Flexible Working Champions to increase a bank of skills and expertise on flexible working as well as to advocate the policy across the industry, offering coaching and support for workers and managers (Barnett & Hall,

The threat of new entrants into the online shoe/apparel market is relatively small due to the fact that Zappos is such an established brand and has specialized their business model. It would be far too expensive for a new company to copy the characteristics of Zappos including their next day delivery and large overhead. The fact that Zappos was losing money initially illustrates this difficulty. Another issue that would create a high barrier to entry is Zappos commitment to the consumer through overnight shipping. Zappos stated that the overnight shipping caused them to leave their warehouses open for the entire day. Any other company would

Zappos is an online shoe retailer that started its business in the year 1999. The company later expanded and increased the variety of the products of its business by adding clothing, beauty products, and housewares. The Zappos Customer Loyalty Team Case Study emphasizes on the customer service department and the initial focus the drop ship method. The company also created a brick and mortar storefront to expand the business from online only and increase sales.

Question 1: What are Zappos’ supply chain related core competencies and sources of competitive advantage? How sustainable are they? What role does corporate culture play in these questions?

until 6 p.m. Some of the employees are wanting to have the hours changed so that all of the employees would be able to be off some of the week and some of the weekend. The superior management team has decided to start a trial work schedule for the emergency employees to work 24 hours on and 72 hours of work because this would allow the employees to have different days of throughout the weeks and the non-emergency employees to work 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and every other week work 7 a.m. until 12 p.m. so that they can take care of their personal business.

If the Zappos website displays an item, it is in stock. Once the company sells out of an item, the listing is removed from the website. This helps to reduce customer frustration. Its inventory and shipping systems are linked directly to the website via a central database, and all its information systems are developed in‐ house and customized to the company’s needs. Their warehouses operate around the clock, which allows them to get a product to the customer faster.

4. Zappos’s new model that is based on loyalty and relationship marketing made the company make 1 billion $ in revenue in 2009. Zappos’s new strategy of offering not just shoes but as well introducing clothing and apparel to the site is definitely a great move knowing that the apparel market of is 4 times the size of the footwear market Zappos’s believe that in order to make its customers happy they should first make their employees happy which they are succeeding at making Zappos among the best 100 company to work for (Adriana,

This case study analysis is based on the 2009 case study from Stanford Graduate School of Business titled Zappos.com: Developing a supply chain to deliver WOW! It begins with the general overview of the background, philosophies and current problems faced by Zappos. This is followed by a hierarchal ranking of the four major presenting problems for the company, which are: maintaining the “wow” image without overspending, inventory management/distribution problems, transportation efficiency problems and customer behavior problems.

Zappos.com is an online shoe and clothing store based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. The company was founded in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn, and officially launched under the name “Venture Frogs”. They began selling footwear for all ages, and expanded to niche markets accommodating to customers with hard-to-find sizes, including narrow and wide-width feet. In the same year, Tony Hsieh and Alfred Lin joined the team and changed the name to “Zappos” (similar to Spanish-term for shoes, “Zapatos”) with a vision of selling more than just shoes. Today, Zappos sells clothing, accessories, eyewear and more than 50,000 brands of footwear, yet their products are not the only focus of their reputation. Zappos is known for their unwavering commitment to customer service and creating one of the most successful company cultures that many organizations aspire to replicate.

An additional method Zara utilizes to ensure the right product is produced is to constantly monitoring the sells at every store in real time through the use of computers. Sells managers are the individuals that play out this strategy. When the clothing sells well or does not sell well, they can quickly let the designers know to swiftly create new designs (“Case 3-4. Continued Growth for Zara and Inditex”, 2013). However, the competition is changing their strategies in an attempt to successfully compete with Zara. The methods that Zara has implemented to ensure fast fashion is truly fast has pressured the competition into reducing their lead times on stocking their stores (Hayes & Jones, 2006).