

Diapers.com will leave larger shoes to fill than Zappos - hiro
http://cpaik.com/post/486732097/diapers-com-will-leave-larger-shoes-to-fill-than-zappos

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Splines
My wife and I ordered our baby formula for about a year or so from
diapers.com, no complaints. They even re-shipped a furniture tie that we
thought they missed (it turned out we misplaced it - they said don't bother
with sending the extra one back).

Diapers.com's customer focus is slightly different than Zappos - eventually at
some point in time Diapers.com's present customers will no longer have any
reason to continue shopping there (it's true for us today - we don't need
anything from Diapers.com), whereas Zappos can potentially sell you shoes for
a lifetime.

As an aside, I personally find purchases clothing (including shoes) online in
the not-quite-right category. How can you ascertain the fit and aesthetic of a
shirt or a shoe without actually holding it in your hand or trying it on?

~~~
dgabriel
_"Diapers.com's customer focus is slightly different than Zappos - eventually
at some point in time Diapers.com's present customers will no longer have any
reason to continue shopping there (it's true for us today - we don't need
anything from Diapers.com), whereas Zappos can potentially sell you shoes for
a lifetime."_

I am now approaching the one year mark with new twins, and I will have spent
more on diapers and other baby supplies than I will spend on shoes in the next
20 years. I generally buy 2 pairs of ~$50 shoes a year, but I spend >$100 on
diapers, wipes, bottles, etc. every month. And the stroller -- my mid-level,
non-fancy double stroller was $200.

Other families that space out their children spend thousands of dollars over
the course of 4-6 years. If they're happy, they'll be loyal. They'll tell the
other parents they know about the site (parents do love to talk about such
things). I can see how this will be amazingly successful. People seem to be
spending more than ever on their children, too.

------
andreyf
_They're even wondering whether a self-help online customer service module
might drive down overall loyalty and LTV if it drops the number of customer
call ins considerably._

My wife is a "LT customer" of diapers.com, and this line made me think back to
why: it was because they once shipped the wrong item in place of what we
ordered.

When my wife called up the service line, she was surprised at how quickly they
helped her out, that they overnighted the correct item, and that they didn't
ask for the wrong item to be returned. Considering that I imagine that "ship
the right items" is one of the first things a business like this would get
right, and that (the LTV of a customer) > (overnight cost of baby cream),
could it be that the mistake was intentional?

~~~
hiro
Highly doubtful, but interesting thought. Talking to the guys at Diapers.com,
they want their customers to be happy the first time around. On the off chance
they're not, they want them to be absolutely delighted the second time. I'm
also pretty sure that the extra cost incurred by including the "mistake item"
as well as knowing you're discretely increasing demands on customer service
might make the customer acquisition cost not worth the lifetime value.

------
aidscholar
Are there any other retail categories with the same type of regular repeat
purchase?

