DISCUSSION
Zappos takes to the road to connect with consumers
Written by RetailWire Staff
Source: Zappos
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the Retail TouchPoints website.
Lacking the physical store outreach of its mighty parent company, Amazon.com, Zappos this year is rolling out a "Friends with Benefits Road Show" to allow its loyal customers — and hopefully some new converts — to see, touch and feel its products.
“When you aren’t able to physically experience something, sometimes it can be a little harder to connect with the brand,” said Kristin Richmer, senior brand marketing manager of Zappos, in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “That’s one of our most important missions as a company, so it felt like a very natural extension to take our brand on the road and bring it to life through our four core tenets that we stand by on a daily basis — retail, community, charity and culture.”
A 40-foot shipping container will cross the U.S. throughout 2017, housing exclusive merchandise, including celeb-curated Zappos products and local fashion displays.
“We’re bringing in local bands as well as local food and beer to create a ‘happy hour’-type sense on a couple of the nights,” said Ms. Richmer. Zappos is also partnering with local adoption shelters to offer free pet adoptions on weekends.
The road show kicked off in Austin, TX from Jan. 27-29. Nashville and Atlanta are next, with future destination announcements coming. Each city visited will be treated as a unique brand campaign in keeping with its overall goals: reactivating customers, acquiring new ones and keeping retention high.
Ultimately, the Road Show is designed to showcase Zappos' commitment to creating service through experiences.
“Whether we’re looking at doing something in the digital space or the physical space, we always put our ‘service’ filter on,” states Ms. Richmer. “Even in Austin, a lot of people came through thinking, ‘What’s the catch?’ because there’s always some sort of catch and most consumers don’t feel they get to enjoy something for free anymore. This wasn’t about a ‘buy one, get one’ deal, or if you donate this, you get this. We truly just wanted people to come by, meet us, say hi and hang out.”