Zappos case study free essay sample

1. What is the business of Zappos and what are its critical success factors (CSF’s)? [lists] Business of Zappos: Zappos is an online shoe store, providing customers with a great number of sizes, styles and brands. What Zappos applies is the Loyalty business model, which reflected in two ways. a. The loyalty of Zappos employees: the firm proposed â€Å"the offer† as a bonus to employees if they quit, which is an incentive for employees to quit. However, the employees that stay will be very committed to Zappos. b. The loyalty of Zappos’ customers: the services that Zappos offers to its customers are very attractive and beneficial to customers. For example, free delivers, 4-day delivery window and a 365-day return guarantee. All these services help Zappos gain more loyal customers. Their revenues are mostly come from its repeat customers. Critical Success: a. Timeliness of shipment: because as the business of Zappos grew, Zappos was confronted with the issues that their customers’ orders can’t be shipped on time. We will write a custom essay sample on Zappos case study or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page So Zappos opened its own warehouse and fulfillment centers, and of course hiring more employees to satisfy this high demand. Therefore, by implementing this set of actions, Zappos can offer the best selection of shoes available everywhere online. b. Training of employees: new employees must complete an intensive four-week training program, which let them better understand the company’s culture, business strategy and process. By training them, employees can enhance customer’s satisfaction. c. Customer services: Zappos focus on customer satisfaction. The orders will be accurately and speedy delivered to individual customers as best they can do. Also, the 365-return guarantee is a great policy to show company’s reliability. Furthermore, there are no call center scripts, time limits on calls, or predefined response to customer issues. This illustrates that Zappos pays a core attention on addressing customer needs and complaints, which will definitely add big extra credit to Zappos. d. Social networking: Zappos uses Twitter as a communication tool with customers, which creates a nice interactive customer community. Zappos can talk with their customers online and also their customer can give feedbacks to them through blogs. e. Fun atmosphere at work: employees at Zappos are encouraged to work in a fun atmosphere. They can wear whatever is funny and do some funning entertainments during office hours, which builds Zappos special culture. 2. Please complete the following table. Identify the key information systems and the related IT infrastructure investments that enable Zappos’ core business processes: Core Business Process Information Systems IT Infrastructure supplier management [an example response is attached; feel free to add to, modify or delete this example and create your own response] customer orders processing system customer returns processing system procurement system online, eCommerce Platform online, eCommerce Platform supplier extranet sales/order processing SCM system Hardware, speedy computers Network (Intranet) order fulfillment and distribution Supply chain management system Business process control platform supply chain management logistics and warehousing Warehouse management system Database for recording and storing inventory data customer servicing Customer relationship management system Call centers for make response to customers human resources management Employee relationship management system Capable database to manage employees. financial management ERP system Database for financial purposes Network: connect and update data through network Hardware, computers that are strong enough to deal with all these financial data. 3. In what ways does the design of Zappos’ Web site and related services support its business objectives? [list] a. Web site design-content: the products are categorized into different groups such as shoes, boots, clothing. So customers can click the exact categories they want to buy and review it with pictures shown in each categories. At the bottom of the website page, it shows â€Å"our newest products† and â€Å"Latest review†, which can gives customers a quick view of Zappos products and maybe some of them can quickly grasp customer’s attention and incentive them to view more Zappos products. Also, at the top of website page, there is alphabetical brand index, which means that the brands that Zappos own are listed with alpha. So it’s easier for customers to see what kinds of brands Zappos own and go directly the exact brands they desire. b. Web site design-layout: the layout of the page is very convenient for customers to look up what they what to look up. First entering into the website, on the top left-hand, it shows the brand name or the category about what this website is about. For example, Zappos’ outdoor website will show the big word â€Å"Outdoor† on the top left hand of the page. The layout of page is easy for customers to find out what they really need. c. Other related services: search functions at the very top of website page, which facilitate the process that customers search the exact products they want from Zappos, which make it easier and faster. Also, at the very bottom of website page, there are lists of customer services available for customers such as FAQs, contact info., feedback. 4. Why did it make sense for Amazon to acquire Zappos? What expertise in terms of information management and the use of IT did Amazon bring to the game that might improve Zappos’ eCommerce competitiveness? [lists] Reasons for Amazon to acquire Zappos: a. Zappos’ business are very focus on their customers, they train employees and do well customer services are all considered to be done well to satisfy customers. So by acquiring Zappos, Amazon can learn from Zappos and improve their customer services from different aspects. b. Zappos has a great potential to grow as a very big business because Zappos create a good interactive consumer community with their customers. The growing number of loyalty customers is the essence of Zappos’ success. So by acquiring Zappos, the loyalty consumers of Zappos will also loyal to Amazon, which can attract more customers to Amazon. c. Zappos unique culture is influential. The fun atmosphere is a great incentive for employees to work happily and the training makes them become very loyal to Zappos. This great atmosphere can also influence other employees who work at Amazon if Amazon acquires Zappos, which can greatly improve the operating efficiency. Expertise Amazon brings: Information management: a. E-commerce platform: Amazon is famous for its e-commerce system which brought up huge amounts of revenue to the market. So the great amount of customers that Amazon owns can bring more sales for Zappos. b. CRM system: Amazon keep a very close connection with their customers by frequently sending emails, and very responsive to customers problems about their orders. For example, many Amazon’s customers are students, so Amazon has the special plan for university students, which let students get more involved with Amazon and further become loyal to Amazon. This great CRM system can help raise Zappos reputation among customers. c. ERP system: With a good ERP system, it can better control the business process. Amazon’s ERP system act as a very important factor to support the great amount of goods flowing in and out. Zappos can definitely take advantage of this ERP system to better manage its product flow and improve operating efficiency. IT: a. Database: As Amazon has a very big business throughout multiple countries, all the information about their products is a great amount of data, Amazon definitely need to keep it. So Amazon’s database is very strong and integrated to store all their business data. As Zappos’ business is growing, it will need centralized database to support business running. b. Network: Amazon is dependent on extranet to communicate with their customers, suppliers and partners. This networking is necessary to build a strong customer intimacy. As Zappos’ business is growing, the networking is more and more important.