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Above and Beyond to Deliver an Order

May 25, 2006 By Joe Rawlinson

I got an email from Peter Abilla after posting my article on back ordered items and shipping. On Peter’s blog, he shares some of his experiences while working for Amazon.

According to Peter, Amazon will go to great lengths to fulfill customer orders. If a product that was ordered isn’t available in the warehouse, two things may happen:

(1) [they] may go to a local store and buy the item and ship it to the customer or (2) do a “network flip”Â?, where the assigned facility “flips”Â? the order to another facility that has that product. Option (2) is ideal, but during the holiday season, it is very difficult to do. During the holidays, option (1) is common.

This type of “customer obsession,” as Peter describes it, pushes aside the direct cost or hassle to the company and focuses squarely on the long term. Amazon is betting that since the order was fulfilled quickly and accurately, that they’ll nurture a repeat customer.

To what lengths does your company got to meet customer expectations?

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