Tony Hsieh is one of the genius of our Modern times, founder and CEO of Zappos.com, he revolutionizes how business is done today. 9 years after its creation, the startup is ready to be the new Amazon.com and Tony H. the new Richard Branson.
But what is his secret? How a simple online shoe seller became a near-future e-commerce empire?
Cheerful work environment: today I watched an ABC documentary about the firm and to be honest who would not want to work for this company after seeing happy and cool employees. Each employee was praising the quality of the work environment as the reason to the success of the company. Tony even offers $2,000 to anyone who leaves the company if he is not happy at work. Guess what? Nobody accepted the offer.
Okay. Actually Tony says it, he is not responsible of the ambiance at work. So what is his secret?
Customer service: Zappos.com is known to have the best customer satisfaction thanks to many factors. “Free shipping both ways”, they deliver for free and if you are not happy you have 365 days to return your order for free… Which other company does that?! And the call center is based at Las Vegas and not in India… thanks God! If your employees are happy at work, they take care of your customers very well. Tony H. even revealed that if an agent does not find the right product for a customer, he can redirect the customer to a competitor. Well, the result is that Zappos.com keeps growing with new customers but also build ‘very’ loyal customers.
Every company should provide this level of customer service but this is not the reason of his success, he says.
The truth is here: Poker. On his latest blog post, Tony H. reveals he learnt everything from poker and he is about to start writing his next book about this topic. It’s definitely interesting to read the parallels between business and strategy based games like poker. Usually famous CEOs would have compared their business mindset with the book “The Art of War” but I was kind of surprises to see Poker as inspirational. I actually don’t play Poker and don’t know anything about it, but I highly recommend reading his article.
His blog is very inspirational for business people and we learn a lot about his insight. We also learn they are working on a new platform called Zeta, you can find it here- it’s quite amazing.
coosh launched in September and continues to be supported by an exciting online campaign that features the breakdancing moves of the world renowned Massive Monkees. Months before the product launch, the Massive Monkees were asked to crash test coosh to see if the product lived up to the claim “Stays On, Feels Good.” After all, if coosh headphones and headsets could stay on during breakdancing, they could stay on doing just about anything! Continue reading ‘Get your Coosh on Black Friday… (or Cyber-Monday)’
No breaking news here. What’s interesting is to see that they won’t take their peers’ reviews into account if there are only few. Less than 4 opinions and 68% of your consumers probably won’t buy your product. So if you’re managing an ecommerce website, make sure that you make the commenting/reviewing process as smooth as possible. I can’t wait to share with you the way we’re currently developing it for the new Kiehl’s site, that we’re gonna launch this fall. More info very soon.
Remember that box that J. J. Abrams was given by his granddad years ago and that he still hasn’t open? Well, I guess that he’s not the only one to think that it’s more fun to not know what you’re getting. 1/ SHARP’s LIFE CHANGING BOX A Facebook application that installs a box on your profile with a mysterious content (contest being over, the app seems to be down). Participants win what’s hidden in the box. Among the prizes already given away, some Home Theatre systems, AQUOS LCD screens, trips to Japan, tickets to the Yankees games… The promo micro site is still up, and very neat, with videos, 3D and smart animations. 2/ SOMETHING STORE You don’t like to take decisions but you get feverish when you click on the Place Order button? You have to spend ten bucks at your office’s Secret Santa event but couldn’t care less about what you’re gonna get your co-workers? Or you just like the excitement of waiting for the sexy UPS guy but don’t really have anything you want to buy? Something Store has something for you. All you have to do is click on the Buy Now, give delivery and payment details, and for $10 including shipping, you get something. From an iPod to clear lenses goggles, from a designer jeans to a USB mug warmer, anything can wait for you seven days later on your doorstep.
Not only the idea behind this book is genius, but you don’t have to feel bad for purchasing another designer book that will probably never leave your bookshelves, since the £3 cover price all goes to UNICEF. A brillant idea developed by James West, who graduated from the University of the Arts, London (LCC) and worked at the London branch of design studio Pentagram before setting up Create/Reject.
Two drop-down menus (one for quantity, one for delivery destination), 2 buttons (buy it, pay) and some straight-to-the-point witty copywriting. So good it’s annoying.
There is something mezmerizing about TV Shopping. I don’t know if it’s the cheesiness of the hosts and demos or the fact that they manage to make indispensable any piece of junk with the help of charts and testimonials. It’s probably a combination of both that makes those shows so sticky that I now have in my kitchen an Aerogarden…
Now imagine a TV Shopping channel for hipster-wannabes. Online. That’s what the guys at droga5 are experimenting with HoneyShed. A bunch of very good-looking hosts do their best to make you laugh while selling some American Apparel underwear, DVDs, cosmetics…
HoneyShed is not an e-commerce website. They are more of an irreverent entertainment hub linking to sites where you can actually purchase the product featured, HoneyShed receiving a cut of the revenue.
The viewers (or shall I say shopper?) can watch the live stream or directly go to the archives sorted by channels (new this week, beauty, tech&toys, fun shit…), add items to their stash, chat live with other viewers, buy the music played in the show…
I hate to say it, but it is actually fun and addictive, the curated products rule, and, productivity-alert, you have an option to launch the show in a mini-player that will sit in a small corner of your screen, so that you’re always one-click away from a $19.99 Black&Decker table-vacuum. I know. But I’ll try to expense it. It’s for research after all!
With an apparently impressively easy to read black-and-white e-Ink screen, and integrated free cellular data connection to download books and connect to a selection of newspapers, magazines and blogs (you need a paid subscription for these, including the blogs!). This is a huge launch for Amazon that could redefine their entire business if the gizmo is a success.
Even though the event was a few blocks away from our NY office in Union Square, I was too busy to go (or was it that I never got an invite?) so you’ll have to trust TechCrunch’s first impressions!
Browsing through the Internet demanded originally some previous knowledge when you wanted to find something. Sites were scarce and they were too oriented towards information depots – you knew that there was a clear distinction between real life and the virtual web, as contents you’d find in one were different and required specific search logic to find it. I’m talking about the time of the Web 1.0, of course, where you could find some static non-interactive information regarding your traveling needs, for example.
The evolution in the Web was so amazing that searching for information on any given search engine is a natural input of keywords – users no longer have to devise careful anagrams and keyword combinations to find the page they needed. Essentially, they have to think what they need, type it in and find it. This shows how the fusion of the virtual and real world has evolved – you know you’ll find those tickets you need, the hotel you want to book and information regarding what other users thought about the services you are using.
This leaves a lot of room open for the transition of offline services to the online world – that’s what people are expecting to find – but, of course, taking in account the whole sociological and societal evolution that is occurring online. In this logic, a great amount of services online are appearing in a daily basis, taking advantage of the tools and spirit the users are immersed.
This entire introduction serves as a basis to explain a type of website that is a perfect example of real world meets virtual world in web 2.0 logic – Social Lending Sites or Microlenders. I’m not talking about lending services for objects or services – I’ll approach those on another post. The Peer-to-peer lending focuses on two axis – people who have money to lend and people who want to borrow money. Each user is a bank on its own and can gain interest off a loan while users who want “small” amounts and that wouldn’t be eligible for a loan in a real bank have an opportunity to get that investment cash! Continue reading ‘Can I borrow a dime? – P2P Lending Sites’
The TrendWatch is the collective postings of some of the FullSIX Group’s designers, strategists, and consultants on new media and marketing trends. It is meant to be an impromptu think-tank, and is a way for us to share theories and beliefs about how we think communication and connectivity is evolving.
We work for The FullSIX Group; a leading full service marketing agency with digital DNA. From our 15 international offices with over 600 employees, we constantly embrace and encourage innovation to make integrated marketing and communication campaigns that are more accountable and efficient for our clients.
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You don’t like to take decisions but you get feverish when you click on the Place Order button? You have to spend ten bucks at your office’s Secret Santa event but couldn’t care less about what you’re gonna get your co-workers? Or you just like the excitement of waiting for the sexy UPS guy but don’t really have anything you want to buy? Something Store has something for you. All you have to do is click on the 
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