I just finished reading a book and I highly recommend it. It is called Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh one of the founders of zappos.com a truly fantastic read. In short it is about their company culture and their passion for the products they sell.
The type of read that gets you thinking about what you do. It is about the customer experience. What type of experience are we looking to deliver? At Zappos they are all about speed and efficiency. At Koala we are about the experience of pleasure. We want to deliver a product that the customer enjoys and looks forward to using. Speed is another issue. Our suits are made here as most of you know. I have tried factories here and overseas to speed up production and have had sample suits made all over. The outcome is always the same. There is no way to produce a super high quality in our case one suit at a time custom quality suit and rush it through. At any given time we have about 90% of all designs in all sizes in stock but that 10% just kills me. I would love for every order to go out the same business day it is received. That is our target. 100% complete orders shipped the same day and that is exactly what happens about 80% of the time. Yesterday was a great example. We had and order come in right as we were closing and UPS was there picking up. It was a 2nd day air order. The book named above motivated me to unlock the warehouse, ask the UPS driver to hang on and pack and ship that order which would normally ship on Monday. I am sure the customer will be blown away by how fast it comes but it also made me feel great knowing that it will most likely surprise him.
Sometimes I wonder if we should offer fewer designs, my feeling is that if it takes and extra week or so to get what you really want it is worth it. Do you have any thoughts about this. Would love to hear about any ideas you have to make your experience a more enjoyable one.
thanks
MD
Mens swimwear
5 thoughts on “Loving the suit and the experience”
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I think blogging helps bring understanding to delay–we can get on a personal level with the company. I like the idea of having many design options, even if it means waiting a bit longer for them. There is a certain price willing to be paid for one-of-a-kind merchandise. My dick may explode while waiting the extra week or so, but its worth it for the perfect design.
It’s really difficult to examine business practices from the inside of a company, when there are all kinds of issues just screaming for your attention. Therefore, I had to say something: kudos to you! I have never had an issue with Koala – either in the products or in the service – but the fact you think about this stuff *matters*.
-Jet
-Jet
Michael: I’ve been to koala hundreds of times. I have an underwear fetish but haven’t worn any for years. Do you have any ideas for the few of us that have modified our genitals? There are a surprising number of us that would probably get into some gear to accommodate anything from a split glans to a fully bisected penis and/or testicles. I know I would. My mind is racing with the potential. Anyway, I just discovered your blog today and I’m loving it. I couldn’t find another venue to communicate this to you. I hope you don’t mind me posting it here. Thanks for being the you you are.
~dave
Dave, there are so many designs that would be fantastic on mod genitals.
Any of the cock displays, the ones with the rubber rings are great underwater
MD
It seems a good solution might be a two-tiered inventory. One set of inventory you would keep fully stocked and a second set would be made as-ordered. Present this information to the customer as they’re viewing the website so they know that if they order certain designs it will take a week before the product ships. If the customer has this expectation up front they will likely be perfectly happy to wait if it is what they want, otherwise they might pick a different design.
Not to misunderstand, I don’t mean that you would provide real-time inventory (although that can be nice too) but rather a full selection of well-stocked designs and another set of made-when-ordered. A real-time inventory creates a sense of scarcity “if I don’t order it today it might be out of stock!” I think you’d prefer to let customers take their time to decide on their orders.
Hey, Michael:
I had to comment. After ordering from koalaswim on Thursday, March 24, 2011, then finding another item I wanted to add to my order, I placed a second order the same day. The first order was requested by overnight delivery, but I figured it wouldn’t arrive until Saturday or Monday, giving you guys one day to package, etc.
However, to my surprise, my entire order arrived Friday, March 25, 2011. Not only did you get the goods packaged and in the mail for delivery the next day, 2,000 miles away, but you caught my error and second order, shipping them all together!
What a surprise. Sorry I didn’t thank you sooner, but I spent the rest of Friday and earlier today playing with my new “friends”. Love my new suits and can’t wait for an opportunity to wear them somewhere accepting enough not to judge!
You are to be commended for your service. Only one thing I find a little disappointing; I would like to see your suits in more than one color. I like your designs, but some of us just don’t look right in some colors. I understand and have read your comments about your production methods as well as your desire to have your suits in-stock and ready to go to keep up your speedy service, but please consider having one primary color for each design that you keep in stock at all times (with time, you might find one color sells best in one design and follow that trend) but then offer the suit in alternative colors that could be made on demand for that order. Your site could declare that choosing the other colors might cause a delay in shipping, but I think most guys like me would understand the delay and would be willing to accept the delay given the customized nature of the order. You might actually find that customers are eager to choose alternative colors and see the “customized” colors as a sign of the unique-ness of their chosen suits.
After all, while it might be great to see the beach full of guys all wearing the Explosive Sex design, wouldn’t it be a little weird if every one was the same color? How cliché to go to the party and everyone wore the same dress.
Love your designs and great service. I just hope my girlfriend doesn’t run for the hills the first time she gets a look at me.
Thanks again,
Don