Zappos takes direct aim at Amazon
It seems that Zappos has some aspirations well beyond their beginnings in shoes, and this is going to put Amazon directly in their crosshairs.
In what could end up becoming one of the largest all out battles in e-commerce history, Zappos, the online retailer famous for selling shoes and outstanding customer service, has launched a new “zeta” site. Accessible through their main menu on Zappos.com, the new portion of their site is going to be selling computers, camcorders, DVDs, Blu-ray discs and more.
Why will this be such a slugfest? Up until now, Zappos has stayed in the shoes, clothing and accessories fields, but this new foray will put it even more in line with the juggernaut that is Amazon. There was crossover from day one, but it was no different than any other niche online store opening up. Electronics and entertainment merchandise are such a radical departure from shoes that there can be no mistaking that Zappos is going to attempt to position themselves in the same leagues as Amazon.
While it is certainly true that Amazon started off solely as books, a leap from one form of entertainment, printed in this case, to other forms wasn’t such a large leap in logic. The jump for Zappos from shoes to computers seems a bit of a curve ball. With over $1 billion in annual sales now, and a well established reputation for its dedication to customer service, it seems to me this may have been their plan all along. Build up their reputation in one product category, get to where they are pretty much the dominate force, and then see where also they could take the same successful formula.
Only time will tell if this plan works, but it isn’t hard to imagine that it will. The only potential problem they may have is that “Zappos” has become synonymous with shoes, so it may take a while for them to train people to think of them for other things, but they have the time and the money to work on that.
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May 17th, 2009
Some competition for Amazon wouldn’t be a bad thing. I’m a big fan of Amazon (and a customer) but I am a little worried by just how big Amazon has become.
May 17th, 2009
Roger – My Sentiments exactly. I have been a customer of Amazon since their first year, and even I have to say it’s time they got some competition. It was getting to a point where it was Amazon or nothing, and that is never a good thing.