‘Ask Zappos’ raises customer service bar, again

I just put them to the test with an old picture of Clarks via Instagram. If it works, it is a convenience which again is what they have always been selling. How they will measure the ROI for whatever time this takes probably will not be shared as much as these PR stories. Without deep pockets, I don’t know who would devote such resources—or who should.

Why not? Service, service, service; and leave the hassles to us! Don’t know how they’ll evaluate the time and energy to track things down, but it should bring business; lots of business, and very satisfied, loyal customers if they succeed. And, yes, other apparel retailers will respond with similar personal shopping services. The article alludes to, but doesn’t go into “image recognition technology,” the new shopping app that Amazon is purveying in its new Amazon Fire smartphone. Image recognition technology is very much in the picture (excuse the pun), and we will see all kinds of action and reaction from retailers to use this technology and defend against it.

Customer service, customer service and again customer service. Zappos has been known for that and it continues. Who does it better? And it helps to have the deep pockets to devote to it. This should be a winner and the beginning of a new trend in customer service.

This is big. Great application of technology to bring personal service to a broader audience. How it will affect Zappos’ sales depends on two things; the way recommendations are communicated and the loyalty factor. Zappos is already doing quite well on the latter. Narrow price differentials will be invisible. Quality assurance will be a major factor.

Placing customer service in every part of the company’s market presence is a clear demonstration of just how important the consumer really is.

The question of who is going to benefit from something, as in the consumer or the customer, should be asked before a commitment to an action takes place. Is the company inviting consumers to visit their site to assist with the location of non-stock items or even categories? This will surely get some attention that might otherwise not have taken place. The thought process possibly being, “let’s get them in the door and our products and services will sell themselves.” We are now living in a much smaller sales volume retail market and the trend is that it is continuing to shrink. Viability and growth are addressed by acquiring more market share for what is being sold at the present, as well as placing new product categories to address the needs of other markets. This is something we have learned well or wish we did.

But what do we do when the big sites like Alibaba, Amazon or ATG largely ignore our offerings simply for pricing reasons? Is taking them on a profitable approach to the need for shoppers? Since there is no clear reason to alter the consumer’s market approach there is likewise no reason to expect a change in consumer habits. This is additionally burdened with the need for the consumer to learn a new site navigation method and appearance. So while it sounds like a great customer service addition I don’t think the investment passes the balance scale test without smoke and mirrors. So we are left with what might be seen as a good idea from a bad investment of time and money.

Spot on. Not only does this have the potential to delight customers, but as Bill Davis says, it gives the opportunity to recommend similar items. If the search determines the shoe is a Louboutin for $800, perhaps unaffordable for the customer, a similar look from Zappos at a lesser price might be perfect. In addition, the knowledge of the customer could be incredible—how great could it be to know everything in her closet in giving the merchant the ability to suggest items?

Kuddos for Zappos! If they can sustain it, it is brilliant! What is the customer currency they are buying? The customers first stop! That’s worth a lot more than my 2 cents…just sayin’.”

This is a great idea, however, as many have stated, the sustainability of this venture long term is uncertain at best. Looking up products from images from cell phones is still difficult. I know Shazam is an awesome tool for music, but audio signal when converted to digital form is fairly easy to pattern match. Images are a whole lot more complicated. Also consider where these images are coming from. Are people snapping pictures of other people’s feet on the street? That may have other problems where Shazam is pretty much completely anonymous and no one knows you are using it.

The accuracy of the results will determine consumer trust in the product to continue to use and more importantly to recommend to others. I suspect the media attention alone is worth it here, however, other retailers coming late to the party may not find the same value in media coverage.

Having said that, in my opinion, the back end of this should be crowd sourced. The retailer should create a program as part of the loyalty machine to have a pool of loyal customers find the shoes for the clients and reward the shoe expert with loyalty points with higher points for matching shoes in their inventory. Something like that. This will boost loyalty, create a fun activity for the shoe fanatics and make it sustainable long term. A tie in with social media will make this even better by making the social media the playground where the image is discussed. Let’s face it, people who love shoes really know their stuff and love to share. They are often more helpful than the sales reps.

Making relationships and helping customers is great, but the data collected here is far more valuable, in my opinion. Especially when this data can be used with BIG DATA and social media profiles to drive future promotions and marketing campaigns.

So is it sustainable? I don’t think so in its current form, but I think they will figure out these things I mentioned here if they have not already. It will depend on what their long-term plan is with this program.

This new service gives reason for consumers to consider Zappos as a point of shopping centricity. Similar to the way Amazon has added payment options and other value through Prime to stay front and center in the minds of customers, Zappos is on a similar path.

The comment “communicate with your customers, don’t market to them” says it all. That comment expresses a simple, logical approach to retail business that should be core to all retailers.

Brilliant! Regardless of how initially successful or used this service is, it absolutely demands other retailers be on notice. Experience is everything. Even if as a customer you don’t use the service, you know it’s there, if you do use it and your quest goes unsatisfied—at least they tried! This reminds me of the old days of department stores, like Harrod’s, Omnia Omnibus Ubique, or All Things for All People, Everywhere. It’s customer service and personalization at its best. Delivered with the ease of digital. Is Zappos resurrecting the best of why department stores used to be? What’s was old, is new again. BRAVO Zappos!