Here's an exclusive interview with s. from Zazz.com.au. Zazz was the first Australian site with the e-commerce 'one item a day' idea. They recently passed their 20,000 member mark, and have been building a strong sense of community since day 1. Their customer service is top notch as well ;) There are weekly competitions and a 'Friday Avatar' comp where you can win some great prizes - so check them out sometime. Thanks again for the interview s.!
[1] I know that Zazz started in March 2006 - how fast has it grown (I recall in your blog post that you upgraded to a larger warehouse) and how many more people have been employed since day 1? Congratulations on the HitWise Top 10 Websites award again - that is a great achievement.
Well, I first joined Zazz in January of 2006. It was unpaid at first as I wasn't really working too much, but rather doing some part-time research for Fred Milgrom (one of the directors) as I had already obtained a certain level of in-depth knowledge of the Internet and eCommerce from my Computer Science degree - and, perhaps much more importantly, I was friends with his sons and daughter. I was invited to work here at the beginning of February 2006 and it was then that I was introduced to what was, at the time, the only other employee and the other director, Alain Sarfati. Fred was doing all the admin and website design, Alain was doing all the buying and I was just writing copy. Of course, we couldn't do it all ourselves, which is why in mid-March we hired two more team members "Nick" and "Adam" to handle returns, warranties and customer service, amongst other duties. So, by the time we went live on March 25, 2006, there were five of us - as well as three others working VERY sporadically doing book-keeping etc.
Although the site has grown exponentially since then, with my coming to full-time and taking over the programmer role as well as expanding my original title to Content Manager, we have been able to eleviate a few outside contractors and kept almost all of the work in-house. We have also since hired Sofia, a warehouse hand and forum monitor, James, a warehouse hand and energetic worker, Caffinebear, a midnight dweller to manage the forumz at product changeover and, our newest employee, Melanie Kate who will be taking over customer service and reception.
[2] What does your daily working life involve? Is it a full time job for most people employed at Zazz?
It's a full time job for Alain, Fred, Adam, Nick and I but a part-time job for everyone else. Although "full time" would normally mean "40 hours", which, purely for the love of the game, we have all exceeded since we started :)
Me personally, I work from 8-4 (or thereabouts):
• Answering any questions that are in the forum from overnight
• Writing the blog
• Seeing what products came in last night, testing them, photographing them and taking down any specs on hand
• Writing the copy
• Answering website-related emails
• Writing the monthly newsletter
• Programming new features
• Fixing holes and errors
• Running Database specific operations when no GUI is available for one of my co-workers
• Cleaning the warehouse and
• Packing products
It sounds like a lot, but I don't do all of them every day and everyone else here works just as hard, so you're never alone. The only really hard bit about my job is switching from the left side to the right side of my brain constantly to perform certain tasks. It's exhausting in a way that only someone in a similar position would understand. But still, 'you gotta love what you do'.
[3] The new trends in shopping are based around online e-commerce websites such as Zazz. How do you see the future for Zazz? Will it be more difficult to maintain a strong customer base?
The future of Zazz is unwritten. Every single day we think of more and more ways to make the site more fun, more accessable and more noticable and every single day we put in place a system to see that those upgrades and updates get done. Whether it's the "product related" filter for the forumz or the addition of SMS updates - they all get done, only some take a little longer than others :)
I don't think it would be more difficult to maintain a strong customer base. I'd like to think that our customer service is the flagship to our business - nowhere, ANYWHERE do customers get the same level of respect and understanding that they do at Zazz. We consider this to be a great achievement. Anyway, sites like Woot.com don't seem to have any trouble, and they recently celebrated 800,000 members!
[4] Most of the products on Zazz mostly involve circuit boards or electronics/gadgetry of some type - do you plan to continue with these types of products or change around to try different products?
I think we're doing a pretty good mix at the moment with around 80% electronic items and 20% non-electronic. It's important to have that mix so people don't get bored, but you can't stop selling what's made you popular, either. I personally think that our buying and planning department is doing a pretty good job right now.
[5] How big is your customer base? Where do most of your customers originate from?
We recently celebrated our 20,000th member - something we're really proud of, given that we've only been in business for 17 months.
This customer base is from all over the world - despite the fact that only Australian residents can purchase from Zazz. Within Australia, the majority of our members are from metropolitan Melbourne and Sydney, but the rest are spread all over.
[6] What aspects of marketing do you undertake? Are you doing any promotion that is not carried out online?
Up until now, we've done everything online - but we do plan on getting out of the little box and into the world. We're just waiting for the right opportunity...
[7] How far in advance do you know of the products that will appear on Zazz? I recall many products are imported - has this expanded your product range?
Sometimes I know a month in advance, sometimes I know a week in advance and sometimes I know 6 hours in advance. It really depends on the product and the whim of the directors. We have a tonne of products in stock, but it's all about what product is right for what day.
We've always imported products from overseas, even from the very first days, so it hasn't really expanded our range so to speak. What HAS expanded our range is the freedom to go to trade shows, to China to see the factories etc. etc. This way, we've been able to actually get our hands on items and test them before we commit ourselves to buying hundreds only to have them all flop.
[8] As you may know, Woot.com has side deals, wine.woot and Google Adsense ads, CatchoftheDay has small fish items, and 1-day offers 3 products per day. Will Zazz be implementing any new/different ideas soon? (PayPal, Direct Debit, different shipping options)
We're about to implement a change that will spell the future for Zazz. I can't say any more than "you have to be at Zazz to see it".
[9] Any upcoming exciting products? Any secrets you might want to share?
What I might WANT to share and what I CAN share are completely different things. I can let you know that in the coming month you're going to see:
• 49 Key Roll-up Pianos
• DIY Car Reverse Sensor Kits
• Projection Clocks
• Wireless Weather Stations and
• Miniature Drumkits
But that's all your getting out of me!
[10] What is your real name? Any other comments?
Hahaha, the endless "name" question. Just call me Ess. Ess Dot.
Thanks, Antman - you're a shining beacon in an otherwise cloudy Intarwebs.
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