Succeeding in Business:
A Review of Billion-Dollar United States Businesses
Businesses that hire during recession are rare. Businesses that create jobs while providing uncommonly exceptional customer service are even more obscure. That's what Zappos, Hewlett-Packard and USAA have been doing since the companies were created. The companies have been able to balance all of their duties while increasing their gross profit and keeping the customers happy with their service. This paper considers both the leadership and marketing aspects of these companies and answers the following questions:
1. How the company got started?
2. What leadership philosophies do they encourage?
3. What marketing tactics do they use?
4. Where can these companies evolve from here?
The paper finally ends with some suggestions for how each company can improve their current status in the market. Understanding how billion-dollar business manage and market their company during a recession can spawn other companies to improve their business practices.
Zappos: A company history
As a relatively new company that started in 1999, Zappos has grown from just a thought into a billion-dollar company in less than ten years. Its roots started with San Francisco entrepreneur, Nick Swinmurn, who was searching for a pair of quality shoes at the local mall. Swinmurn could not find any shoes that would fit his style or his shoe size. He had the same problem online because the online stores did not offer the selection that he desired. So, the businessman decided to start his own online shoe company that would curtail to varying shoe buyers who valued different brands, styles, qualities, and even pocketbooks.
So began the company that would revolutionize the onl...
... middle of paper ...
...are you?. New York Times. Retrieved February 23, 2011, from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/business/10 corner.html
Cass, M. (2009, May 4). Zappos Milestone: Q&A with Nick Swinmurn. Press center. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from http://about.zappos.com/press-center/media-coverage/zappos-milestone-qa-nick-swinmurn
Chessum, J. (2010). Tony Hsieh. Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/ss/how-to-make-customers-love-you#4
Fast Company. (2005, March 1). The Shoe Fits | Fast Company. FastCompany.com - Where ideas and people meet. Retrieved April 12, 2011, from http://www.fastcompany.com/fast50_05/ winners/8.html
Hsieh, T., & Chafkin, M. (2010, June 1). Why I sold Zappos. Inc. (New York, NY), pp. 100-104. Retrieved March 3, 2011, from http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100601/why-i-sold-zappos.html
Rich, M. (2011, April 8). Why is this man smiling? New York Times, p. ST1.
The ecommerce industry is growing faster than ever. TJ Maxx needs to start focusing more on ecommerce not only to keep up with competition, but also to make sure they do well during weak economic periods. ecommerce, overall, tends to do very well during lackluster economic times. TJ Maxx will be able to cut costs more easily the more they expand their ecommerce business. Our business idea will allow them to expand their ecommerce as we will take over their website and delivery. TJX Companies’ three ecommerce sites accounts for only about 1.0% of the company’s total sales. However, the online channel is a key growth driver and TJX is taking initiatives to improve its online business. The ecommerce sales
With minimal aid from interviews with managers and no exposure to the marketing entity of the company, I was able to accomplish much of my findings related to the macro environment of Kohl’s through diligent online research. One of the major changes occurring in the retail industry is online shopping. Substitutes such as Amazon, eBay, and other online retailers are replacing the technically savvy shoppers from ever having to enter a store. Kohl’s competes with these outlets by remaining on the cutting edge of integrated technology to enhance the customer experience shopping their brand. They are currently testing multi-function tablets in jewelry and beauty departments that can be used to demonstrate
Roberts, Bryan. Berg, Natalie. Walmart: Key Insights and Practical Lessons from the World's Largest Retailer. Kogan Page Limited, 2012. Print.
JCPenney is a chain of American mid-range department stores that is based out of Texas that started over 100 years ago. JCPenny has been successful for most of its time up until the last three to four years. The company is trying relentlessly to overcome the lingering effects of the makeover that former CEO, Ron Johnson, had implemented in order for the company to take a new direction in hopes of increasing sales. The new CEO, Myron Ullman, has taken a close look into the markets demographic segmentation along with the income segmentation in order to attempt to return the retailer back to its old self, which is to appeal to middle-market customers. A couple issues of major concern for the company are the dissolving of Johnson’s Boutiques, the price of their products, and overall revenue.
After co-branding the Macy’s name with local Federated stores in 2003, the Macy’s division became the central focus for revamping. Federated descri...
Recent news of Nordstrom’s implementation strategies towards expansion alludes to success for both their retail and credit business segments. Nordstrom has recently expanded internationally by opening stores in Canada. Diving into a new marketplace will help increase revenue and increase their market capitalization. In May 2016, they claimed to have achieved their milestone through development of their rewards program, which allows customers to earn benefits no matter how they choose to pay. As a result, Nordstrom claimed, “the company has approximately 6 million active Rewards customers, up nearly 30 percent from 4.7 million in the prior quarter.” (Nordstrom) Some of the primary reasons that people shop at Nordstrom are for great customer service, their no questions asked return policy, personal stylists, ambience, in-store amenities, and free alterations. Through a recent posting of a previous Nordstrom employee, Mike Schoultz, explains, “the Nordstrom marketing strategy uses customer experience design as a key difference maker. The company is perhaps as known as much for its experience design as it is for the merchandise it sells.” Nordstrom has a way of making their customers feel
Nordstrom can continue providing their exceptional online experience and client focused approach using their online system by offering an unmatched online experience that copies their in-store customer service. This would allow Nordstrom to raise its revenue considerably as well as further improving their brand image. I will also discuss specific ways of successful execution, and the steps required to provide Nordstrom a stunning picture of how to execute strategy.
Zappos is an online shoe and clothing store. The idea of an online shoe store originally came from Nick Swinmurn in the year 1999. He then pitched the idea to Alfred Lin and Zappos’ current CEO Tony Hsieh. Zappos quick rise to success is mostly attributed to their ten core values. These values vary from creating fun and weirdness to being humble. However, the root of this company’s success lies only on one important thing: their regard for customer service. They value the quality time spent with customers over the phone rather than the quantity of customers.
Team B's assignment this week was to select two different publicly traded companies in the same industry. The two companies will serve as the basis for subsequent team assignments. The two companies chosen for study are Wal-Mart and Target. This paper will provide an overview of each of the selected companies.
The collaboration and carefully connected network was consistent with a culture that allowed the retail kingdom to remain flexible, profitable, and prosperous for two decades (Mehrmann, 2009). Their 4S business model – service, selection, savings and satisfaction where the customer has a choice of wide variety of merchandise, received 110% back if they found a better deal, 30-day money back guarantee and the customer service of high trained sales professional help the company establish a competitive advantage. Their point-of-sale systems facilitated quick transactions and took care of their inventory (Wells
Business strategy and model: Zappos.com had a differentiation strategy with which they had differentiated themselves from the rest of the market. They had use a unique corporate culture in their company which was one of the major competitive edges of the company. According to the CEO of the company, Tony Hsieh, that everything that they had done at Zappos such as their relationships with 1,200 to 1,500 brands, policies and website style could be copied, however, the only thing that no one could copy from them was their unique culture. Zappos had 10 unique core values as a basis of their company’s culture, employee performance and their overall operations. They were hiring and firing people on the basis of their abilities that whether they were living up to these core values or not.
There are many responses that a company can have to troubling economic times. They can first weather the storm and survive. They can back up and get driven out of business, or they can grow. The economy has been in recession for many months. It is the job of our company to identify things that can help businesses to make it through these times and hopefully prosper.
Zappos.com is a website that started off just selling shoes but now sells items such as handbags, clothing, and housewares in addition to shoes. Their company logo includes their catchy name with an explanation point as the end in the shape of shoe print which leads consumers to believe Zappos has strong feelings about the service they provide to their consumers. Zappos believe that customer service is the number one priority and is focused on cultivating repeat customers which is why they have always provided free shipping on both orders and returns; occasionally provides upgraded shipping so customers can receive their shoes the same day that they are ordered even though this is very expensive to the company; and they only show products on their website that they actually have in stock albeit they lose 25 percent of their potential business by doing so (Walker, 2009). For a compa...
Zappos strategy for delivering happiness to customers: Zappos adopted the unique strategy for delivering happiness to the customer that describes below:
Thau was inspired by the Bashar Nejdawi, president of Ingram Micro Mobility that is a provider of technology and supply chain services. According to Nejdawi, “In five years, consumer electronics stores as we know them today won’t even exist, and the same rings true for our favorite apparel brands”. He also asserts that three influential factors will change the retail landscape: instant gratification, borrowing and customization. A good example of instant gratification is Uber or Amazon. The Uber customer can see in real time where the Uber car is and when is going to arrive. In the same way the Amazon provide fulfillment program that allow retailers to sell products that are not physically in storage. In this way the retailers do not have to care about inventory and can concentrate on marketing. Secondly, the borrowing culture is going to grow. As an example is Zip Car or Netflix applications. On the Zip Car program someone can borrow a car just for few hours. Likewise, some business offer a mobile device rental program that allow a customer to lease the latest device for a fraction of the cost. Further, the customization program permits customers to choose their preferences before the product is being made. As an example is miAdidas company that gives to the clients the possibility to create