8 Ways Amazon's Service Shines
Named the country's most trusted company by a 2014 Millward Brown report, Amazon.com continually reinvests its profits to improve communication with customers, speed up service and find innovative delivery methods. By focusing on long-term growth over immediate profitability, Amazon has gained an extremely loyal customer base. Here are eight ways the U.S. e-commerce giant puts service first:
1. Nonstop support: Amazon's customer service is everywhere. From an easy on-site customer service center to chat rooms, blogs and threads, the retailer comes to you. I've even found an Amazon customer service representative on Reddit, solving problems and answering questions about early access codes for video games. Amazon's team has the freedom to actively solve problems, not just redirect the customer.
2. Coming to a city near you: Amazon has 78 fulfillment locations in 19 U.S. states and two provinces of Canada. The company has spent almost $14 billion on fulfillment services this decade alone. Amazon is often criticized for its low profitability, but its investments in infrastructure position the company for future growth. While that money could have easily been saved, along with costs for maintenance, staffing, leasing and inventory by having just a few centralized warehouses, nothing can compare to the lightning-fast service. Amazon's vast number of fulfillment centers allows it to provide faster and cheaper delivery — two huge perks for customers.
3. Flying delivery robots: Unless you've been living under an internet-free rock, you've heard about Amazon's potential drone delivery service. Dubbed Prime Air, the fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles would air drop packages within 30 minutes of a customer order. Many have speculated that this announcement just before Black Friday was nothing more than a publicity stunt. Whether it comes to fruition or crashes and burns (not literally I hope), it's gotten customers talking about the company's futuristic ideas, advanced services and all-around cool factor.
