STORES Magazine - May 2008 - (Page 40)

EXECUTIVE SUITE / COVER STORY Zappos ut-of-stocks are a nightmare for most retailers: for Nick Swinmurn, they were the inspiration that led to the creation of an e-commerce powerhouse. O Back in 1999, Swinmurn was walking around a mall in San Francisco looking for a pair of shoes. One store had the right style, but not the right color; another had the right color, but not the right size. He tried online retailers: still no luck. Internet start-ups were being created almost by the minute in those days, but selling shoes via the web was an idea no investor would touch. Still, Tony Hsieh was intrigued and backed the concept with $500,000. Within six months, he and Swinmurn were running the show. This year, Zappos’ A few years later, when Swinmurn gross merchandise moved on, Hsieh took the helm as sales are expected CEO. to top $1 billion. Over the past nine years, Zappos.com has expanded and evolved to the point where it now sells handbags, clothing, eyewear, watches and accessories, as well. Niche shoe markets, including narrow and wide widths, hard-to-find sizes — even vegan footwear — are on tap, and a line of high-end shoes called Zappos Couture recently debuted. Gross merchandise sales for 2008 are projected to top $1 billion, compared with $32 million six years ago. Company executives claim that, in bricks-and-mortar stores, about one in three sales are lost due to out-of-stocks. Zappos.com stocks more than three million SKUs that include 40 STORES / MAY 2008 more than 160,000 styles, nearly a million UPCs and approximately 1,100 different brands. Inventory may be one key to success, but Hsieh insists customer service is the ultimate driver. Zappos.com staffs its call center 24/7 and currently employs a staff of more than 1,600 people. To ensure service levels are maintained, each new hire at headquarters, regardless of position, is required to undergo four weeks of “customer loyalty” training by answering phones in the call center prior to starting the job for which StORES he or she was hired. WWW.STORES.ORG http://Zappos.com http://Zappos.com http://Zappos.com http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - May 2008

Stores - May 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Contrasting C-Level Compensation Across Segments What Shoppers Think 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Cover Story: Concepts That Clicked Concept2Watch Kiosks Artificial Intelligence Tech Support Online LPinformation Data Synchronization Human Resources Site Selection POS Selection Communications Biometrics Networking Systems Credit Loeb Retail Letter Arts Update Point of View NRF News Retail Crossword Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - May 2008

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