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Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!


Zappos was founded in 1999, during the Internet boom, to sell shoes online. The company's founding premise was to provide the ultimate in selection to its customers-all brands, styles, sizes, and colors. Zappos organized all aspects of its business (including recruiting, culture, call center, inventory, website, and supply chain) to provide the best possible service-it wanted to "wow" everyone who interacted with the company, from customers to employees to corporate partners. Zappos grew rapidly, and by 2008 was profitable with net sales (after returns) of about $650 million. The company faced a number of issues as it looked forward. While it had penetrated only about 3 percent of the U.S. market for shoes, Zappos had expanded its product lines to items such as camping gear and video games. It needed to determine those elements of its strategy had contributed to its success in shoes, and whether it would be able to duplicate that success in other product lines. It also needed to determine how it could scale its business-much of the effort it had made to "wow" its customers was labor intensive and expensive-could this be scaled to a company with revenues of tens of billions? Finally, the economic landscape changed dramatically in late 2008, with the financial market collapse and recession. The service-intensive Zappos.com business was based on sales at little to no discount, unlike many websites that relied on selling at the lowest possible price. Would the company need to make changes to respond to the changed economic environment, and if so, what were those changes? The case provides an opportunity to evaluate the core competences of an Internet retailer that has experienced rapid, initial success. The case enables students to consider supply chain issues, which are critical to the company's success, in the broader context of the business: the bases of Zappos' success, its core competencies, culture, and competitive environment.

Authors :: Michael Marks, Hau Lee, David W. Hoyt

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Manufacturing, Marketing, Organizational culture, Supply chain, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!" written by Michael Marks, Hau Lee, David W. Hoyt includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Zappos Wow facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Manufacturing, Marketing, Organizational culture, Supply chain and Leadership & Managing People.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Zappos Wow, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Zappos Wow operates in.

According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.




SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix


SWOT analysis of Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Zappos Wow
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Zappos Wow




Strengths Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Zappos Wow in Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! Harvard Business Review case study are -

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Zappos Wow has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Zappos Wow has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Zappos Wow are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.

Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Zappos Wow digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Zappos Wow has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Zappos Wow has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry

– Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Zappos Wow to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Zappos Wow to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Zappos Wow has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Zappos Wow has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.

Training and development

– Zappos Wow has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.

Organizational Resilience of Zappos Wow

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Zappos Wow does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Zappos Wow is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Innovation driven organization

– Zappos Wow is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.






Weaknesses Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! are -

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael Marks, Hau Lee, David W. Hoyt suggests that, Zappos Wow is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Zappos Wow is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Zappos Wow has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! HBR case study mentions - Zappos Wow takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Zappos Wow has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Zappos Wow 's lucrative customers.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Zappos Wow is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Zappos Wow needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Zappos Wow to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Zappos Wow has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!, is just above the industry average. Zappos Wow needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Zappos Wow needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.




Opportunities Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! are -

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Zappos Wow to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Zappos Wow to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Zappos Wow to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Zappos Wow in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Zappos Wow to increase its market reach. Zappos Wow will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Zappos Wow in the consumer business. Now Zappos Wow can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Reconfiguring business model

– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Zappos Wow to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Zappos Wow can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.

Developing new processes and practices

– Zappos Wow can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Zappos Wow has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Zappos Wow to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! case study. Zappos Wow can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Loyalty marketing

– Zappos Wow has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Zappos Wow has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Zappos Wow to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Zappos Wow can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Zappos Wow operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Zappos Wow can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.




Threats Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! are -

Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc

– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Zappos Wow can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Zappos Wow has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Zappos Wow needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.

High level of anxiety and lack of motivation

– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Zappos Wow needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Zappos Wow with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Zappos Wow can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Aging population

– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!, Zappos Wow may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .

Instability in the European markets

– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Zappos Wow will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Zappos Wow is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Increasing wage structure of Zappos Wow

– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Zappos Wow.

Capital market disruption

– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Zappos Wow.

Environmental challenges

– Zappos Wow needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Zappos Wow can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! Template, Example


Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants. We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –

First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.

Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.

Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Zappos Wow needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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