Zappos stays committed

Zappos made headlines this week for a pricing glitch that occurred on a sister website, www.6pm.com. For a few hours the price on every item was capped at $49.95, even if the actual price was say, $250 for a handbag. The error was caught but not before costing Zappos an estimated $1.6m, according to Aaron Magness, director of brand marketing and business development at Zappos. The problem was a simple programming error, a glitch caused by a few  incorrect characters in a line of code.

Fittingly, the biggest headline grabber out of this story has been Zappos’ response to the situation. Despite having the full legal right to cancel all sales that occurred under false pricing (this is listed in their terms of service), Zappos is honoring every purchase made during the “deep discount” session. As if Zappos needed more arrows in their quiver about putting customers first. Bloggers and journalists have been laying serious praise on how the situation was handled, so much so that the good press has most likely outweighed the loss taken by Zappos in terms of free advertising and buzz.

What is most striking in all of this is how Zappos continues to remain “human” in the most positive light. The company has grown significantly in the last couple of years (being acquired by internet retail giant Amazon in 2009) yet they continue to execute their vision as if they have 5 employees. A mistake was made on their end, a human error, and they felt that it was only fair to honor their customers. It wasn’t a bottom line decision, otherwise the sales would have been cancelled and they would be $1.6mm richer. It was a “human” decision, admitting a mistake and taking the higher road while spreading goodwill at the same time. Think any of the shoppers who received the unintentional discounts are now Zappos loyalists? Their handling of the situation is very powerful, it further reinforces their approach as a service company, staying true to their tagline “Powered by Service.”