Why is Important to Have Innovation Metrics Essay

WalMart's (NYSE:WMT) expertise in discount retailing is globally recognized, as is their supply chain and extensive logistics capabilities. What differentiates WalMart from the many other discount retailers is their extensive reliance on buyer personas or representations of their customers. All aspects of the WalMart value chain are predicated on serving their customers as cost-effectively and efficiently as possible. WalMart has also created an extensive information systems network that includes satellite uploads of data on a daily basis from their thousands of retail locations to their Bentonville, Arkansas headquarters (WalMart Investor Relations, 2013). The intent of this analysis is to evaluate the mission, vision and strategy of WalMart from the perspective of improving its customer service while also taking into account its financial position. To accomplish this, objectives are provided, combined with performance measures and expected levels of performance as well. All of these factors taken together provide senior management at WalMart with insights into how they can profitably improve customer service.

Zappos is an online shoes retailer that started its business in the year 1999. Later on the company had expanded its business to include the beauty products, clothing and even the housewares within its leading e-commerce website. This case emphasizes on the customer service department of Zappos Company and initially the business focused only on the drop ship method. Later on the company also increased the variety of the products. The company had also created a bricks and mortar storefront to expand the business and increase the sales of the business.

The employees are very committed to their employer due to earning high wages, benefits, and internal promotions. A happy employee in turn, makes a happy customer. Employees interact with the customers, as the company foster’s an environment of collaboration (DiSalvo, 2015). Employees are not just checking you out, or bagging your groceries; they are engaged in their work, and want the customer to be as excited about the products as them. Customers like to form relationships with the businesses they visit, for example banks, restaurants and retail stores. At Trader Joe’s, the employee turnover for full-time employees is less than 10%, therefore customers get to know the employees and build relationships which makes shopping enjoyable and you don’t feel like just another shopper (Ton, 2012). Trader Joe’s certainly has a competitive advantage in customer service and as long as they continue to invest in their employees, they will have a sustainable advantage over their competitors.

They are more like a big family. At Zappos there are lots of fun activities to get the employees involved, like face painting, wacky parades, and gaming in the lounge on breaks. Employees have the freedom to dress causal and comfortable. The company ensures customer loyalty by closely training and mentoring their team, and at the end of training they offer their employees $3,000 to leave (most of whom do not except the offer after weighing the options). Besides their fun and supportive environment, Zappos offers their employees full health care benefits, free meals, and competitive salaries. Lastly, while many other companies have call centers located outside of the country, (in order to save money) Zappos call center is located in Loss Vegas. Phone calls are not timed or scripted, which gives the employees a chance to interact with the customers on a more personal

Publix Supermarkets, Inc. has been constantly recognized on various (The Best of) lists, winning numerous awards not only for employee satisfaction but customer satisfaction as well. Their endurance is built on creating and maintaining an efficient workforce, which gives it the competitive edge needed in the current economy. Their mission statement is, “Where shopping and working are a pleasure”. This report will detail the company’s history, financials, SWOT analysis, internal/external environments, and a breakdown of their human resource policies. As you will read in this report, Publix understands the correlation between an engaged and satisfied workforce and the positive effects it has on their customer satisfaction.

    A big part of this execution--or the last 100 feet--at Trader Joe’s is its employees, people who like what they do, go out of their way to help customers, and even engage in some suggestive selling. They are a major reason for the company’s success. After all, few employers--particularly in retailing--can boast of having such high levels of employee loyalty, not to mention extremely low turnover.

The owners of Zappos did an amazing job coming up with the idea of selling shoes to from online. There was a market that was created by Zappos. Zappos has been able to continue to grow due the advancing in technology that has made it must easier for customer to shop online. A lot of people know what kind of shoes they like and what size shoes they wear. If a customer does need a product in the next few days and can be patient then Zappos is a great store for that customer. Zappos makes it very easy for the customer because of it policies and customer service. Zappos offers free shipping. Zappos also give

For Tony Hsieh, the Zappos brand is less about a particular type of product and more about providing a good customer service. This means that he largely cares about the welfare of his employees and customers. An evidence of him being such an altruist leader was when the blog search engine Land called him “the

Zappos efforts are generated with good motives, but applying this system on 1,500 employees will not be simple and will probably have some consequences. Employees and managers on the same level playing field can restrain friendly antagonism that motivates employees to keep progressing.

49). Surveys can be used in a variety of ways to evaluate the organizational service commitment. Surveys sent through the mail or having a supervisor conduct a follow-up contact with the citizen to inquire about how the citizen would rate the service that they received are two such ways. Also, supervisors who follow-up officers on calls for service are better able to observe first-hand if the community is receiving quality customer service, and if not, they can make on-the-spot corrections to ensure that they do. Dose & Klimoski (1995) noted that “all complex organizations incorporate some sort of control system for the purpose of providing guidelines for employees as well as for managing performance” (p. 35).

Zappos has created a very structural attractive company. There is a lot of room for growth with the recent purchase by Amazon.

1. One of the requirements to successfully apply as a Zappos employee is to be happy. The company hires only happy people, after which the company expends significant effort to maintain this sense of happiness. The philosophy behind this is that customers will be happy when being served by happy employees. This is why the company strives to create a company culture that inspires its employees and promotes their sense of well-being.

Zappos started out by selling shoes online to become the world’s largest online retailer of shoes. Subsequently, in their quest to boost sales, they moved beyond footwear to become an E-tailer that sells ‘anything and everything’.

Zappos employees truly believe that above all else, the secret to customer loyalty is making corporate culture a priority which is directly driven from their Human Resource management.

Zappos.com, established in 1999, has rapidly become a strong competitor in online apparel and footwear sales. With the original corporate vison of offering the absolute best selection in shoes; the vision has evolved over the past several years to include the goal of being the retailer that “provides the absolute best service online -- not just in shoes, but in any category” (Zappos, 2014). The online retailer stocks millions of reasonably priced footwear products; carrying thousands of hard to find brand named shoes, handbags, apparel and accessories via the company website and 7,000 affiliate partners. In recognizing their rapid success, Zappos credits it to their commitment to the customer, stating,