Amazon Buys Zappos for $850 million
Very rare for me to break into your evening like this but you MUST go read this post right now:
Here’s Why Amazon Bought Zappo’s
Don’t miss the video. Every minute of it is worth the as much as most expensive Customer Experience consulting you can imagine. At 2:10, is not only my personal mantra, but also the reason why I still adore Jeff Bezos. He lives it and breathes it and by golly he means it.
Thanks to Brian Conrey for pointing to this post.
Grow and be well,
Kelly Erickson
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22 July 2009, 11:33 pm
Good one, Kelly. I watched the video and loved Jeff’s points too: Customer Obsession, Invention, Long Term Thinking, and Today Is Always Day One.
From what I read and saw, I think Jeff found a company with growth potential that thinks like he does. It would have been hard for him to resist the opportunity.
It’s nice to see a successful businessman preaching the gospel of customer obsession. It gives me hope that long term, I’ll flourish if I keep making customers the number one priority.
At least when I hit the ground after my free fall, I’ll have lots of well wishers at the funeral!
23 July 2009, 7:27 am
Todd,
Glad you liked it. The post is an excellent analysis, but the video really brought it to life. I could have linked to at least a couple of posts here on every one of those topics in the video—I tell you, I could almost think he’s been reading MCE when I watch it! (Then I wake up.)
He’s made a Big Boys company with the very best of small-business thinking. Remember when they were always in the news (for years) because pundits said they’d never make money and they’d be a colossal flop? Right from the beginning he has been able to stick to that small-business thinking with religious focus, and to infect his staff with his way of delivering delight. That’s what I love about amazon.
Keep looking at the long-term. That is the very hardest part, I know too well, but it’s what gives those other points a chance to work their magic!
Regards,
Kelly
23 July 2009, 5:46 pm
Yes, I remember the days when Amazon was an enigma and nobody knew what it meant. Or what it would become.
I love that: When choosing about obsessing over competitors or obsessing over customers, we’ll always pick customers”
23 July 2009, 9:55 pm
Fifteen years since Amazon started… that sounds like way too much time that’s passed!
It’s amazing how Bezos replaced the customer experience they couldn’t offer (i.e. allow you to pick up the book before you bought it) with something just as good (i.e. shopping from home — I mean do you really need to pick up that book…?)
Throw in a huge discount, and you’ve got a winner!
~Graham
23 July 2009, 10:35 pm
Andy,
LOL! Remember only seeing the river? But now I see the “amaze” in amazon, as that crafty founder knew we all would one day—because every day they work on putting it there. Not a bad 15 years’ employment.
Graham,
Yes! They caught the winds of change at just the right moment (even helped create the winds of change) and reinvented an industry. Maybe even held the decline of publishing at bay for a while.
I still buy about half my books at traditional bookstores. Sometimes I just have to pick up the book to know we belong together. And I get cravings for books *now,* that clicking and shipping just can’t satisfy. But I’m a pretty huge reader.
The average reader probably sees it the way I do when I’m placing an amazon order… the little wait, the huge selection, and the discount for my patience, will make the read twice as sweet. Plus I can get ink for my printer, a tripod for my camera, and imported goodies from Spain… and a box with a smile on it. Woot!
I can hardly wait to see how he’ll inject that goofy laugh of his into the already-superb Zappos culture. This should be a great marriage.
Until later,
Kelly