Zappos.com: A Lesson in Leadership

If you ever wanted a lesson on good leadership, you’d be hard pushed to find one better than the awesome display of ingenuity displayed by Tony Hsieh, CEO Zappos.com, last week.

News transpired that internet retailer 6pm.com had, mistakenly priced almost all of its products at $49.99. The error was pretty unforgiving, given that some products on the site normally sell for well over $1,000.

The site, owned by parent company Zappos Development, was quickly and efficiently shut down until the pricing problem was fixed. But, according to Aaron Magness, Director of Brand Marketing and Business Development for Zappos, while the error was probably a great deal for customers, the inadvertent slip-up turned out to be a pricey affair for the company – costing them more than $1.6 million.

So where does Mr. Hsieh come in? Well, thanks to some quick thinking blogging from both Magness and Hsieh, the potentially disastrous minefield of consumer rights and legal issues was altogether averted, after Hsieh held up the company’s hands to the mistake, accepted full responsibility for the error and confirmed that – despite the resulting loss – all orders placed at $49.99 would be fulfilled.

Of course, Zappos.com – and Hsieh himself – has a long history of putting the customer first. No matter what the cost.

According to Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, for instance, Zappos.com is currently placed as #23, outranking the likes of Starbucks, Microsoft, DreamWorks and Mattel.

The newcomer to the list offers employees free lunches, concierge services and 100% coverage of health insurance premiums. Even better, perhaps, is the fact that even after Tony Hsieh cut eight percent of the staff, he received several glowing letters from departing staff, praising the retailer to the high heavens.

Topics: Retail, Strategy, Customer Experience, Leadership