When your business is primarily distribution of products, it can be difficult to add easily perceived value to what you sell. I grew up in the printing business where a publisher was able to apply ink to paper and create something of much greater value than either of the two raw materials. In the case of our family business, it was greeting cards-adding a clever idea and high quality art is what added real value to ink on paper.
When the basis of your business model is taking items out of a large box and putting them into a series of smaller boxes, it is a real challenge to add additional worth that the customer will value.
We’re always on the lookout for how others do it.
A recent online purchase of a pair of shoes for my daughter led me to a pretty incredible experience with an online retailer called “Zappos“. Their motto: “We are a service company that happens to sell.”
It is hard to imagine a product more challenging for online sales than shoes. Not only does every manufacturer have a different idea of what a size 7 is (or any other size for that matter) but the selection of shoes is incredibly subjective. Not only do you care what the shoe looks like on the page, you also care about what it looks like on your foot.
Zappos not only offers “free” overnight shipping (obviously built into the price) but, if you are unhappy with your selection, they offer free return shipping as well. Full refund with no questions asked if you choose to return the shoes.
My daughter wanted something different than the Christmas present I gave her-no surprise there. She was able to pick out a new choice and have them the next day, and I was able to return the original purchase with no hassle at Zappo’s expense.
Obviously, if too many customers were unhappy, Zappos’ free return service would not work. It’s essential that they achieve customer satisfaction the first time around on most purchases. With the overall commitment to service they showed us, my guess is that the percentage of returns is not too high.
Regardless, we’ll shop at Zappos again.
Got a good “value added” idea ? Share it with us.
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