...SWOT ANALYSIS ON Zappos.com - November 25th, 2010 Zappos.com is an online shoe and clothing shop. Currently based in Henderson, Nevada, United States, the company warehouse is located in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, along with an outlet store. Since its founding in 1999, Zappos has grown to be the largest online shoe store.Zappos did "almost nothing" in sales for 1999, but grossed over USD$800 million in merchandise sales in 2007 and grossed over $1 billion in 2009. In July 2009, under pressure to deliver a return to Sequoia Capital and its other investors, the company announced it would be acquired by Amazon.com in an all-stock deal; by the time the deal closed in early November, the deal was worth about $1.2 billion. The name Zappos is derived from the Spanish word zapatos, meaning shoes. Strengths * Effective communication * Innovation * Online growth * Loyal customers * Pricing * Unique products Strengths [list] [*]Effective communication [*]Innovation [*]Online growth [*]Loyal customers [*]Pricing [*]Unique products [*]Customer Service [/Great shipping Low fixed cost Strong brand unique company culture] Dummy Weaknesses * Weak real estate * Not too many Locations, throughout the US Weaknesses Weak real estate - what real estate? this is an internet co right? Not too many Locations, throughout the US Pricing: does not offer price comparison woow Opportunities * Innovation * Online * Takeovers Opportunities...
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...Assignment 3 Part 1: Leadership Style: How Are Leaders Leading in the 21st Century BUS520- Leadership and Organizational Behavior December 03, 2014 Introduction Everyone loves a good pair of shoes! Well, Zappos.com has a plethora of shoes. Their CEO had a vision to build a business no one else was doing, which inspired the online shoe store. Millions of customer’s know about Zappos. Zappos provides quick and solid service. Zappos is compliant with current technology and up on to date on current fashion trends. However, Zappos success starts from the top and from within. Element 1: Provide a brief paragraph background of the CEO. The CEO is Tony Hsieh. Zappos (2012) in 1999, at the age of 24, Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay) sold Link Exchange, the company he co-founded, to Microsoft for $265 million. He then joined us as an advisor and investor, and eventually became CEO, where he helped us grow from almost no sales to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales annually, while simultaneously making Fortune magazine’s annual Best Companies to Work For list. In November 2009, Zappos.com, Inc. was acquired by Amazon.com in a deal valued at $1.2 billion on the day of closing. (2014)”. Element 2: Analyze the CEO’s leadership style and philosophy, and how the CEO’s leadership style aligns with the culture. Mr. Hsieh fosters a fun, innovative culture at Zappos. Slogan Zappos first code of conduct is Deliver WOW through service. Simply put “provide customer WOW service”...
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...Christa Foley: Recruiting outside the box at Zappos Zappos is a privately held online retailer with an extensive product category mainly including footwear, watches, apparel and handbags. Their Headquarters is located in Las Vegas, Nevada, and it primarily operates in the US with about 1,300 employees and revenues mounting to $2,158 million in 2011. And also this company spends over $350 million to develop the entire neighborhood so employees will have access to great places to live and socialize too. Thanks to its strength in offering an outstanding customer shopping experience and strong corporate cultures and values related to customer service; it is one of the largest online shoe retailer with a positive growth outlook. Zappos launched in 1999, there was a great deal of reluctance about the notion of selling shoes online. The exclusive selling propositions of this company included: the ability to buy from a much larger selection of sizes, styles and colors than in brick and mortar stores; the ability to receive overnight shipping for free; the provision of detailed information and visual access to the shoes; and the “WOW” experience of a customer service call center whose passionate employees were trained to go above and beyond. Would you consider working for Zappos? Why or why not? After I read the article and did further research on Zappos, definitely I will like to work with a company like this that is focuses on identify the right fit of their employees. I like their...
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...Integrating Culture and Diversity in Decision Making: The CEO and Organizational Culture Profile April Smith The organization I chose to research and discuss on is Zappos. Many individuals enjoy this organization because it is an online shoe store that sells name brand designers that is half the priced than an original shoe store within a mall. Nick Swinmurn, who started the online shoe retailer Zappos.com, founded this organization in 1999. His original idea was to generate a web site that presented great quality of selections of brands, styles, colors, sizes, and widths of the shoes. By 2010, Zappos had grown so much that there was need to restructure the company so that we could continue to offer customers the very best service possible. For us to have the flexibility to possibly sell anything and everything one day, we needed to make this change. On May 1, 2010, Zappos was restructured into ten separate companies under the Zappos Family umbrella "The Zappos Family Story." Zappos is just like any other organization that holds a culture of values of their organization. There unique culture provides ten family core values that their organization stand firm about business. Their first value is Deliver WOW Through Service, at Zappos anything worth doing is worth doing with WOW. They distinguish that value short and simply but it encompasses things with the organization. The philosophy at Zappos is to WOW...
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...Francisco looking for a pair of shoes. One store had the right style but not the color and vice versa. Nick, walking from store to store, and finally went home empty-handed and frustrated. Nick also tried looking for his shoes online and was again unsuccessful. Long story short, Nick decided to quit his day job and start an online shoe retailer... and Zappos.com was born! The original idea was to create a web site that offered the absolute best selection in shoes in terms of brands, styles, colors, sizes, and widths. Over the past 9 years, the brand and aspirations have evolved, and in addition to offering the best selection, with the goal to be the company that provides the absolute best service online -- not just in shoes, but in any category. Zappos vision: • One day, 30% of all retail transactions in the US will be online. • People will buy from the company with the best service and the best selection. • Zappos.com will be that online store. Zappos believe that the speed at which a customer receives an online purchase plays a very important role in how that customer thinks about shopping online again in the future, so at Zappos.com, they focus on making sure the items get delivered to customers as quickly as possible. In order to do that, they warehouse everything that they sell, and unlike most other online retailers, they don't make an item available for sale unless it is physically present in the...
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...The CEO and Organizational Culture Profile In 1999, Nick Swinmurn founded the online shoe retailer Zappos.com. Zappos was created when Swinmurn was walking around in a San Francisco mall looking for a pair of shoes. One store had the right style, but not the right color another store had the right color but not the right size. Nick left the mall empty-handed and frustrated. Nick decided to quit his day job and start an online shoe retailer, and Zappos began (Zappos.com). Additional investment became necessary for the success of the business after it was already started. Swinmurn teamed up with investor Tony Hsieh, later naming him the CEO of Zappos. Zappos’ started making money after committing its business to customer service. Swinmurn and Hsieh built a successful company with a new culture. This new culture has been preserved by Zappos’ new owner, Amazon.com, which acquired Zappos in a $1.2 billion deal. Zappos’vision states one day at 30% of all retail transaction in the U.S. will be online, people will buy from that company with the best service and best selection, and Zappos.com will be that online store (Zappos.com). This paper will examine the culture of Zappos.com, determine how Zappos showed the signs of culture, the factors that demonstrated the culture, the type of leader that would be best suited for the company culture, and the culture change needed to if there was a decline in the sales. Zappos’ has branded their culture as the value of happiness. Zappos’ provides...
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...In July 2009, Zappos.com, an online shoe and apparel company announced that it would be acquired by Amazon.com in a deal worth about $1.2 billion. Since its founding in 1999, Zappos has grown to be the largest online shoe retailer in the world. Although Zappos is known for its shoes and apparel, their customer service and company culture are the two main factors that set them apart from most other companies. Talya Bauer and Berrin Erdogan discuss characteristics of organizational culture and dimensions of culture in Chapter 15.3 of their book Organizational Behavior. A few of these cultural dimensions can be used as a framework for describing Zappos’ company culture. First and foremost, Zappos is a service culture. Their most important cultural factor is delivering outstanding customer service in order to make the online shopping experience as easy and as close to a visit to a retail store as possible. As Alfred Lin, their CFO put it “We are a service company that happens to sell shoes,” (Ely, Frei and Winig, 2011, pg. 12). In these types of cultures, employees are trained to serve the customer well and to do almost anything necessary to resolve customer problems. They are proactive about solving customer issues and employees are personally invested in improving the overall customer experience. Second to their service, Zappos is a people-oriented culture. They value respect, supportiveness and fairness, and truly believe that their people are their greatest asset. In order...
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...it that some of these onlookers include celebrities and record producers. Founded in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn, the Zappos Family has come a long way from its humble beginnings to becoming a well-known name among American consumers. It all began with Swinmurn unsuccessfully trying to find a pair of shoes for himself, even online. The desire to find the right pair eventually led him to start an online shoe business, Zappos.com. By 2009, the organisation had grown and joined global online retailer, Amazon.com Inc. and last year the organisation was restructured into 10 companies under the Zappos Family of Companies unit. Zappos Family is fast gaining a reputation not only for having great customer service but particularly for being a good employer. Fitting into Zappos’ shoes Earning a reputation as a good employer is no mean feat and the organisation’s quirky and open culture has helped to achieve this. This culture took some time to develop but it has now become a part of everyday work practices for all Zappos Family employees. Hollie Delaney, director of HR at Zappos.com. says that the organisation needed to define itself and the people who would work for it, and this definition came in the form of the 10 core values (see sidebox). “Our 10 core values are our foundation and our guide in making decisions,” she explains. Some of these values may seem a tad silly to people outside the organisation – they include “Create Fun and A Little Weirdness” and “Deliver WOW Through Service”...
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...In 1999 the founder of Zappos was Nick Seinmurn, it all began when he was walking around a mall in San Francisco looking for a pair of shoes. He tired looking for shoes everywhere in the mall and couldn’t find the right pair and went home empty-handed and at home, Nick tried looking for his shoes online and was again unsuccessful. So Nick decided to quit his day job and start an online shoe retailer and in 1999 that’s when Zappos.com was born. The original idea was to create a web site that offered the absolute best selection in shoes in terms of brand, styles, colors, sizes, and widths. Over the past 9 years, the brand and aspirations have evolved, and in addition to offering the best selection, with the goal to be the company that provides the absolute best service online, not just in shoes, but in any category (aboutzappos). The Zappos family core values, as they grow as a company, it has become more and more important to explicitly define the core values from which they develop their culture, their brand, and their business strategies. The list the ten core values that they live by. One, deliver WOW through service. To WOW, you must differentiate yourself, which means doing something a little unconventional and innovative. You must do something that’s above and beyond what’s expected. And whatever you do must have an emotional impact on the receiver, they expect every employee to deliver WOW. Two, embrace and drive change. Being part of a growing company you have to expect...
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...Questions of Case #1 (Zappos) Zappos.com is an online shoe and clothing shop currently based in Las Vegas, Nevada. In July 2009, the company announced it would be acquired by Amazon.com in an all-stock deal worth about $1.2 billion. Since its founding in 1999, it has become one of the world's largest online shoe stores. After reading the Zappos case and other relevant materials, your group can answer the below questions while applying some content learned from lectures. 1. Overall, what type of leadership characteristics does Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, have? We have learned the three types of leadership: effective, influential, and responsible? Why do think that Hsieh has that kind of leadership? Provide your opinion and some evidence on the specific leadership. 2. Is Hsieh a transactional leader or transformation leader? If you think he is a transactional or transformational leader, why do you think so? Provide the detailed evidence on your argument. 3. The major terminal value of Zappos is happiness. What kind of instrumental values does Zappos use to demonstrate the Zappos happiness to customers, employees and partners? Please specify detailed components or activities of each instrumental value. 4. Zappos’ CEO pursues empowerment through various tools when employees communicate with customers. For example, the policy to guides external communication was “use your best judgment.” Why is empowerment so successful at Zappos? Do you think this empowerment can work...
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...it that some of these onlookers include celebrities and record producers. Founded in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn, the Zappos Family has come a long way from its humble beginnings to becoming a well-known name among American consumers. It all began with Swinmurn unsuccessfully trying to find a pair of shoes for himself, even online. The desire to find the right pair eventually led him to start an online shoe business, Zappos.com. By 2009, the organisation had grown and joined global online retailer, Amazon.com Inc. and last year the organisation was restructured into 10 companies under the Zappos Family of Companies unit. Zappos Family is fast gaining a reputation not only for having great customer service but particularly for being a good employer. Fitting into Zappos’ shoes Earning a reputation as a good employer is no mean feat and the organisation’s quirky and open culture has helped to achieve this. This culture took some time to develop but it has now become a part of everyday work practices for all Zappos Family employees. Hollie Delaney, director of HR at Zappos.com. says that the organisation needed to define itself and the people who would work for it, and this definition came in the form of the 10 core values (see sidebox). “Our 10 core values are our foundation and our guide in making decisions,” she explains. Some of these values may seem a tad silly to people outside the organisation – they include “Create Fun and A Little Weirdness” and “Deliver WOW Through Service”...
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...Zappos Katrina E. Johnson MGT 4800 Thursday May 10th 2012 Linda Mohr Abstract Zappos.com is an online clothing and shoe store. Zippos’ was founded in 1999 and has grown to be the largest worldwide. The CEO Tony Hseih’ leadership has brought Zippos to a level of rapid growth in less than 10 years. He is innovative with his use of relationship marketing. Hseih believes strongly in diversity, ethics, character, and personality within the workplace. Hseih has a clear understand of the use of technology, social networking, and its value within the market place. Tony Hseih use of growing strategy is pivotal in his success. Zappos The original founder of Zippos is Nick Swinmurn. Swinmurn was out shopping one day in the San Francisco area and could not find what he needed. The very same day Swinmurn went to his small home and has an idea for an online shoe retailer. In 1999, the dotcom boom was on the up rise and Swinmurn site was one of the hundred upstarts. Although, most of the dotcom boom went broke, Zappos was experiencing and exponential rise to success. In 2008 Zappos reached $1billion in annual sales and made, it to the coveted listed of the Fortune Magazine’s list of best companies to work for and that same year reached its 10th anniversary. In December 1999, Swinmurn and a few of his partners realized they had used up their investors seed money and were nowhere near close to realizing a profit. One evening the group met at a bar for drinks to commiserate...
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...Emily Hallan M60- Organizational Behavior Katherine Berggren 11/2/15 Zappos Case Study: Happiness and Company Culture To Zappos, service is not just a value held on the corporate plaque or something they like to talk about. At Zappos, delivering exceptional service is a way of life. Zappos is a large online clothing and shoe shop who has made service, not shoes, their business. In 2009 Zappos was acquired by Amazon for an all-stock deal, valued at $1.2 Billion. While many factors contributed to the success of Zappos, the biggest contributors were the leaders, Tony Hsieh and Alfred Lin. Hsieh and Lin understood that the happiness of their employees, partners, and customers was key to Zappos business. Everyone inside Zappos, knew the link between the culture of happiness and the positive performance, attributed to the success of the company. Since the creation of Zappos in 1999, the Zappos brand has upheld its “wow” customer service positioning and a distinct corporate culture. At the time there was no other big online footwear retailers, so Nick Swinmurn, founder and CEO of Zappos, created an online footwear site, containing many varieties of shoes in different colors, styles and sizes. At the time there were not a lot of online shoe retailers, so they were primarily competing with brick and mortar shoe stores. Initially, Zappos received inventory through independent shoe stores but by 2000, they had secured relationships with the shoe manufacturers themselves and were...
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...unlock the secrets of human happiness. 66 INC. MAY2009 Get Ha3DV How Tony Hsieh uses relentless innovation, stellar service, and a staff of believers to make Zappos.com an e-commerce juggernaut—and one of the most blissed-out businesses in America BYMAXCHAFKIN I PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAKE CHESSUM "What would make you happier in your life?" Tony Hsieh asks me this question as we sit at a booth with half a dozen young people in one of those absurdly lavish lounges that can be found only in I as Vegas. It's called Lavo, setting of recent Paris Hilton and Nelly sightings and the cit)'s newest hot spot. The theme is an ancient Roman bathhouse, and so, in addition to the normal nightclub features—thumping bass, low tables, dim lighting—there s the distracting aspect oftwo scantily clad women pertbrmltig a risqué bathing routine, complete with damp sponges and music. It's a strange setting for an interview^^specially for an intcr\'iew with Hsieh (pronounced Shay). He's a thoughtfi.il, low-key fellow who seems out of place in such a louche setting. Indeed, he seems oddly oblivious to his surroundings, MAY2009 INC. 67 EVERYBODY LOVES ZAPPOS which makes sense, given that he runs what is arguably the customers feel really, really good. This is not because Hsieh is a decades most innovative start-up, Zappos.com. Hsieh helped nice guy (though he is a very nice guy), but because he has start Zappos in 1999 as an online shoe store, and the company decided that his entire business...
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...GM 591: Leadership and Organizational Behavior Project Proposal Overview of Organization The Organization I will be researching is ZAPPOS. Zappos is an Internet based shoe company that has blossomed over the years since 1999. They have ventured on to more than just shoes, servicing the public with offering things like accessories, handbags, watches, clothing, and even home goods. If there was an award for the best company in the U.S., I believe ZAPPOS would receive this award. This company is not committed to gaining profit from its products, they would rather be known for their great service, and to “just so happen to sell shoes”. They go above and beyond for their consumers and employees. Offering great benefits and even gifts to their customers. Zappos has developed their own company culture and core values and it has in return made them one of the most successful businesses of our day and age. A man named Nick Swirnmurn went searching for a pair of brown air walks at the mall one day and was reluctant to find nothing. Out of frustration he called up one of his business partners with the idea of selling shoes online. Nick was interested in providing shoes for all walks of life in all styles, shapes, and sizes. He wanted to sell not just regular shoes, but also shoes that weren’t easy to find. He knew that in the US shoe sales totaled a profit of $40 billion dollars and 5 % of that came from shoes being sold in traditional catalogs. Nick pitched this business...
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