The News Tribune Business Team will keep you updated on what's happening in the South Sound and beyond. Check here for news about economic development, aerospace, shopping and much more.
Talk to us
Got something to say? Here's the place to say it. We welcome your comments on what's going on in business in the South Sound that we should be discussing, reporting or analyzing here on our blog or in the pages of The News Tribune.
Contributors
Marce Edwards is the business editor. She has been at The News Tribune for seven years and has written about technology and big businesses in the South Sound including Weyerhaeuser and Russell. Before moving to Tacoma, she worked at The Idaho Statesman in Boise. She is a Northwest native who likes to garden and refuses to use an umbrella. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and two kids.
C.R. Roberts is a Tacoma native. Before joining The News Tribune, he worked as a freelance writer and part-time cowhand on a cattle ranch in Northern Idaho. He writes about small business, personal finance and other business issues.
John Gillie writes about the aerospace and airline industries, commercial development and consumer issues. During his 30-year-tenure at The News Tribune he has covered issues as diverse as the Native American fishing rights disputes, crime and the courts, the wood products industry and energy. He lived in Tacoma with his family for 25 years, but now lives in Kent because his wife heads a five-state non-profit foundation headquartered in Ballard, and it only seemed a sensible compromise to make considering their workplaces are 40 miles apart.
Kelly Kearsley has been a business reporter at The News Tribune since 2005. She covers the Port of Tacoma and international trade. Being born and raised in Spokane she’s used to living in cities with inferiority complexes and, in fact, prefers it. Prior to working at The News Tribune, she spent three years as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon and another year working stints for The Associated Press and Seattle Times. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and miniature schnauzer.
- All
- Aerospace (1477)
- Banking (179)
- Commercial Real Estate (145)
- Consumer Alert (28)
- Downtown Tacoma (225)
- Economic Development (273)
- Employment/Workplace (283)
- Food (32)
- General (1920)
- Labor (178)
- Port and trade (275)
- Residential Real Estate (77)
- Restaurants (145)
- Retail (63)
- Shopping (320)
- Technology (133)
- Tourism (742)
- Your view (7)
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| << < | > >> | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 | |||||
- October 2009 (59)
- September 2009 (83)
- August 2009 (109)
- July 2009 (98)
- June 2009 (107)
- May 2009 (108)
- April 2009 (124)
- March 2009 (100)
- February 2009 (95)
- January 2009 (112)
- December 2008 (100)
- November 2008 (101)
- More...
XML Feeds- MrSinister
- FV
- dmon
- preserve
- lcsoccer21
- CustomScoop
- artman77
- Guest Users: 245
Here's a story about a young national company lauded for its customer service. If you like shoes, you're probably already familiar with Zappos.com. (A few of us in the office are acquainted with the site and its shoe selection.) If you're not, this Forbes story suggests Zappos.com could be heading in the online sales direction of Amazon.
The piece includes a couple of nice anecdotes of exceptional customer service, but all customers are given a year to return shoes and most orders get overnight shipping.
Here's part of the story:
Emulating Amazon, Hsieh has expanded Zappos into clothes, cookware, electronics, bedding and toys. Pickings are slim in some of these departments. For now, folks interested in athletic accessories can buy only gloves, listed for $35 to $55; those who want to explore tv and home theater products will find only a Vudu video receiver for $295.
Can Zappos break out of the shoebox? Product diversification is the best way for Hsieh to keep Zappos ahead of rivals that have popped up in the $1.4 billion online shoe business. They include Piperlime, an online shoe site created by Gap (nyse: GPS - news - people ) 19 months ago that offers a similar shipping and return policy as Zappos. And then there's Endless, a similar outfit started by Amazon. These sites offer many of the same styles and brands. Prices are sometimes higher on Zappos, where they fluctuate based on supply and demand.
Hsieh, who owns ten pairs of shoes and can't recall more than two of the brand names, insists Zappos' corporate personality gives it an edge on copycats.
