Watch out! The most customer centric company has arrived!

The headline news "Amazon.com buys Zappos" should send shivers to all businesses. Why all businesses you may ask. The reason is Amazon.com's number one business priority is to create a great customer experience in every product that they sell. Shoe is the latest offering (through Zappos). Will Amazon.com sell the same product as your business? (I bet they will when the timing is right). When they do, they will focus all their energy into one thing, that is, customer experience is great!

"Yes, more and more money will go into making a great customer experience, and less will go into shouting about the service. Word of mouth is becoming more powerful. If you offer a great service, people find out" - Jeff Bezos.

Both companies share similar vision :

Amazon focuses on low prices, vast selection and convenience to make their customers happy, while Zappos does it through developing relationships, creating personal emotional connections, and delivering high touch ("WOW") customer service.

Here’s a story of a wow customer experience by Zappos.

To all companies out there, Amazon.com and Zappos may be eating your lunch one day. Alternatively, you can emulate these two companies’ vision ie. make customers happy. Boleh, tak?

Enjoy the free suntan, sir (like it or not)

"You have to do it 3 days in advance, sir", said the customer service personnel at Aeroline in 1 Utama shopping mall. I walked away dissapointed because I left office early with the hope of changing my bus seat before the counter closes for the day. It was a Friday and I was supposed to depart the following day.

I have to say I disagree with Aeroline's statement, "The Aeroline brand is thus driven by the key thrust of being People Focussed".

The more apt statement should be, "The Aeroline brand is thus driven by the key thrust of being Policy Focussed".

And I am totally fine if Aeroline is policy focussed. At least, I set my expectations upfront ie. my request or needs are not Aeroline's focus (1st priority).

Just in case, Aeroline decides to be people focussed, Zappos is a great company to emulate.

"I listened to one Minnesota customer complain that her boots had begun leaking after almost a year of use. Not only did the rep send out a new pair - in spite of a policy that only unworn shoes are returnable - but she also told the customer to keep the old ones, and mailed a hand-written thank-you.

The bean counters fully support such gestures: "Seventy-five percent of our purchases are from repeat customers," says Zappos chairman, COO, and CFO Alfred Lin. "There are a lot of things we do that seem overly costly. But we have always been focused on the long term when looking at whether something should be cut."
- Jeffrey M. O'Brien, senior editor of Fortune.

Well, I don't expect free shoes or bus ticket, at least allow me to change my seat from the free-suntan seat of 1A to suntan-free seat of 8A (based on my convenience of time, not 72 hours ahead).

cc. Aeroline management,
Hope you will aspire to become Zappos. Boleh,tak?