For online retailer Zappos.com, it’s always been a virtual customer experience.
Until now.
Zappos is taking its show on the road (literally!) with its new Friends with Benefits Road Show, a cross-country road trip bringing a one-of-a-kind mobile retail experience to cities nationwide this year.
For the first time, Zappos is taking its brand offline, inviting friends, family, and children to hang out and enjoy cool experiences including local fashion displays, celeb-curated products, pet fashion shows, adoptions, live music, and more.
Loyalty360 caught up with Kristin Richmer, senior brand marketing manager at Zappos, to find out more about this unique endeavor.
What factors at Zappos prompted this “Friends with Benefits Road Show,” and what are the company’s goals for it from a customer engagement/customer experience perspective?
Richmer: We’ve always been an online brand so we don’t often get the chance to interact with our customers in person, but our connection to them is very real. We wanted to get out there and meet them in real life, thank them for their loyalty over the years and meet new friends along the way. Our hope is that new and existing customers alike walk away from the experience with a better understanding of the Zappos spirit and a deeper, more tangible, connection to our brand.
What will make this a one-of-a-kind mobile retail experience?
Richmer: This is not your everyday retail experience. We are truly bringing Zappos to life across all of our major brand pillars: Retail, customer service, culture, and charity. The Road Show retail experience offers visitors the ability to touch and feel products in real life while conveniently checking out online thanks to geo-located iBeacons. Adoption events during the day speak to our commitment to charity, the local band showcases at night highlight our enthusiasm for culture and, as always, our focus on dependable customer service will ensure attendees an exceptional experience throughout it all. We will also be tailoring each tour stop to stand out as unique to that market and fit into the community. Each stop will offer a selection of highly curated retail products, showcase a local animal shelter, local food truck, local bands and more.
Can you talk about the thought process and vision behind bringing Zappos to life this year?
Richmer: We are a customer service company first and foremost, so we are always seeking out new areas that we can get involved with and improve upon to provide a better experience for our customers. From building co-working spaces in the hectic places you need them most to creative enjoyable porter potties (really!), we are always on the hunt to provide great experiences for our customers and community.
Zappos is viewed nationally as a top-notch brand. What is the company trying to improve upon to elevate the customer experience to newer and greater heights?
Richmer: We’re pretty proud of what we currently offer our customers, and the through-line of all of that is customer service. We realized that we can take our current customer service philosophy and apply it to other areas of life. This will not only help us further connect with our customers, but it will push us to grow as a company, challenging our perception of what customer service can and should look like.
What does customer loyalty mean to Zappos and has that definition evolved in recent years?
Richmer: To us, loyalty isn’t equated with the amount of money someone spends shopping on Zappos. Instead, it’s about a customer that considers Zappos a valuable resource and spreads the word to their friends and family.
At Zappos, what are you most proud of?
Richmer: Any time we can make someone’s day a little bit easier, a little bit better, even with the smallest gesture. Those are the moments that make us most proud.
The Friends with Benefits Road Show begins Jan. 27-29, 2017, in Austin, TX, and is free and open to the public.
For more information, please visit www.zappos.com/roadshow.