Building a Brand that Matters with Clothing, Customer Service and Culture Aaron Magness – Sr. Director - Brand Marketing & Business Development [email protected]twitter.com/macknuttie BAI Retail Delivery October 21, 2010
1. Building a Brand that Matters with Clothing, Customer
Service and Culture Aaron Magness Sr. Director - Brand Marketing
& Business Development [email protected]
twitter.com/macknuttie BAI Retail Delivery October 21, 2010
2. Who is this Aaron character? Work Play Sold trade show space
Family/Friends Business Development for Williams- Athletics Sonoma,
Inc Music Business Development & Marketing for Marathons
(completed 8 so far) Zappos.com Triathlon (Escape from Alcatraz)
Poker 2
3. Corporate Background at a Glance Zappos.com, Inc. is a
service Best selection company that Over 1,000 happens to sell
Zappos.com is brands, over clothing, Powered by 200,000 styles,
handbags, Service over 900,000 shoes, unique UPCs. accessories,
Providing the 1700 employees best online 5 million items in
housewares, . (half in NV, half in shopping warehouse KY)
experience 100% of products #23 in FORTUNE possible. inventoried
(no MAGAZINEs 100 Fast, Free drop ship). Best Companies Shipping.
Free To Work For 2009 return shipping. Founded in 365-day return
Highest debut 1999 policy. for a newcomer in 2009 Fast fulfillment.
#15 in FORTUNE Expedited MAGAZINEs 100 delivery. Fast, Best
Companies friendly & expert To Work For customer service. 2010
3
4. Customer service value proposition in action Committed to
WOWing every customer Customers come Customers come Customers come
back, order more and back order more often On any given day, Repeat
customers Over 10 million total about 75% of have higher average
purchasing customers purchases from order size returning customers
$123.86 first time customers in Q407 Over 4 million have Repeat
customers purchased in the last order >2.5x in the $156.27
returning 12 months next 12 months customer in Q407 4
5. Power of repeat customers and word of mouth... $1,000
$800Gross Sales $Ms $600 $400 $200 $0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
2006 2007 2008 Gross Sales 1.6 8.6 32 70 184 370 597 841 1014
5
6. Recent Recognition: Nice, but we pay more attention to our
customers TV Stories Oprah ABC Nightline 60 Minutes Fortune 100
Best Companies to Work For #23 (2009) Highest ranking newcomer to
list #15 (2010) Moved up 8 spots! Fast Company 50 Most Innovative
Companies #20 (2009) BusinessWeek Top 25 Customer Service Champs #7
(2009) STELLAService #1 (2010) NRF Customer Choice Awareds #3
(2008) #3 (2009)
7. 3 fundamental things weve learned are necessary for WOW
service online: What What What We Customers Customers Do See First
Experience Internally 7
8. Customer Service: What customers see first 24/7 1-800 number
on every page Free shipping Free return shipping 365-day return
policy 8
9. Customer Service: What customers experience Fast, accurate
fulfillment Most customers are surprise-upgraded to overnight
shipping Create WOW Friendly, helpful above and beyond customer
service Occasionally direct customers to competitors web sites
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10. Customer Service: What is done internally No call times The
telephone is one of the best branding devices available No
sales-based performance goals for reps Run warehouse 24/7 Inventory
all product (no drop-shipping) 5 weeks of culture, core values,
customer service, and warehouse training for everyone in Las Vegas
office Well pay you $2000 to quit Culture Book Interviews &
performance reviews are 50% based on core values & culture fit
Twitter/Facebook/YouTube/Blogs help build company culture 10
11. Owning the 3 Cs ClothingCustomer Service Culture
12. Clothing
13. Customer Service
14. Culture
15. Owning the 3 Cs:Clothing, Customer Service, Culture Culture
Customer Service Clothing
16. Delivering Happiness (customers, employees and
shareholders)People will forget what you said, people will
forgetwhat you did, but people will never forget how youmade them
feel. --Maya Angelou
17. CULTURECommittable Core Values
18. Zappos.com, Incs Core Values1. Deliver WOW Through
Service2. Embrace and Drive Change3. Create Fun and a Little
Weirdness4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded5. Pursue
Growth and Learning6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With
Communication7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit8. Do More
with Less9. Be Passionate and Determined10. Be Humble
19. Thats great for YOU but it would never work at my
company
20. It doesnt matter what your core values areas long as you
commit to them. ALIGNMENT
21. How does one do that?1. DECIDE what kind of brand you want
to build2. Figure out VALUES & CULTURE3. Commit to
TRANSPARENCY4. Have a VISION5. Build real RELATIONSHIPS6. Build
your TEAM7. Think LONG Term 21
22. Step #1 DECIDE Decide if youre trying to build a long term
sustainable brand Requires more patience with revenues &
profits in order to lay the foundation Decide sooner rather than
later 22
23. Step #2 FIGURE OUTVALUES & CULTURE 23
24. VALUES & CULTURE Figure out values & culture sooner
rather than later What are your PERSONAL core values? What are the
COMPANYS core values? Start EARLY. It is surprisingly HARDER than
you think. It doesnt MATTER what the values are. The most important
thing is ALIGNMENT. LIVE the BRAND 24
25. Step #3COMMIT TO Be real and you have nothing to fear Your
culture is your brand Dont try to be someone you are not 25
26. Commitment to Transparency: Examples twitter.zappos.com Ask
Anything newsletter Extranet for vendors Tours & reporter
visits ZapposInsights.com 26
27. Transparency Tools twitter.zappos.com 27
28. Get your partners involved! 28
29. Transparency Tools Zappos.TV 29
30. Transparency Tools Facebook Page 30
31. Transparency Tools Facebook Page 31
32. What does a Snuggie have to do with Zappos.com?Absolutely
nothing, but it has everything to do with an engagement
opportunity! 32
33. Step #4 VISIONWhatever youre thinking, think bigger. Does
the vision have meaning? Chase the vision, not the money 33
34. ENTREPRENEURS: What would you bepassionate about doing
for10 years even if you never made a dime? 34
35. EMPLOYEES:Whats the larger vision and greater purpose in
their work beyond money or profits? 35
36. VISIONMOTIVATION vs.INSPIRATION 36
37. Step #5 BUILD RELATIONSHIPS (not networking or marketing)Be
INTERESTED rather than trying to be INTERESTING 37
38. Step #6BUILD YOUR TEAMIf you want to go quickly, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together. (African proverb) Hire slowly
Fire quickly 38
39. Step #7 THINK LONG TERM Repeat customers Customer service
There is no get rich quick formulaOvernight successes are years in
the making (both personally and in business) 39
40. some links to check out http://twitter.zappos.com (public
mentions, employees) http://bit.ly/twitterbetter How Twitter Can
Make You a Better (And Happier) Person http://blogs.zappos.com
(photos & videos of culture) http://about.zappos.com (more
information about us & core values) http://jobs.zappos.com (job
opportunities) 40
41. 42
42. Thank you for allowing me to be here! Email
[email protected] for a copy of this presentation or a copy of
the Culture Book (its a physical book, so I need a physical
address). 43
43. Legal and Financial Disclaimer P.S. You might be wondering
why we need to have a legal and financial disclaimer in this
presentation, but you are still reading, so our lawyers, auditors
and accountants would really like to make sure we make the
following clarifications. Although an audit was underway and almost
done, the financial information presented in this slide show was
unaudited. We made every effort to present the best information we
had at the time. Gross merchandise sales is a non-GAAP metric. We
use it to express the total demand across all of our web sites and
stores. This number measures the dollar value of the orders placed
in the year before accruing for certain items such as returns, and
it ignores certain timing cut-offs that are required by GAAP for
revenue recognition purposes. If we were a public company, we would
have to reconcile gross merchandise sales to the nearest GAAP
metric (net sales), but we are currently a private company so the
gross merchandise sales number should be viewed just as an
interesting number that we want to share with our friends. This
presentation contains forward-looking statements that involve risks
and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they ever
materialize or prove incorrect, could cause our results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking
statements and assumptions. These risks and uncertainties include,
but are not limited to, the risk of economic slowdown, the risk of
over or underbuying, the risk of consumers not shopping online or
at our web site at the rate we expected, the risk of supplier
shortages, the risk of new or growing competition, the risk of a
natural or some other type of disaster affecting our fulfillment
operations or web servers, and the risk of the world generally
coming to an end. All statements other than statements of
historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking
statements, including statements of expectation or belief; and any
statement of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing.
Zappos.com assumes no obligation and does not intend to update
these forward-looking statements. Congratulations on making it
through all the fine print. 44