CITY OF INDUSTRY, CALIF
. — Eight-year-old
has copped its second Retail Excellence Award within the
consumer direct channel.
Despite exponential growth that has catapulted it to 12th
place on TWICE’s Top 100 CE Retailers rankings, the company
still operates with the zeal of a start-up, and continues to
engender a passionate following of registered users that has
now hit the 13-million mark.
Like most successful businesses, Newegg’s guiding principles
are easy to delineate but difficult to execute. Founder Fred
Chang’s goal in creating an e-commerce site for IT enthusiasts
in January 2001 was, and remains, to “exceed expectations” on
service, ship time, assortment and pricing.
Newegg continues to do so by shipping 99.9 percent of
all orders within one business day of purchase, and by offering
a dramatically expanded assortment of more than 34,000
products that has moved beyond computers, peripherals and
networking equipment to include a complete slate of competitively
priced A/V, gaming, digital imaging, mobile, and
other CE products and services.
Newegg achieves its stunning fulfillment
stats with cutting-edge logistics and five
company-owned distribution centers totaling
1 million square feet of space. Together
they assure that 90 percent of all customers
receive their shipments within two days
of ordering, while nearly 100 percent of orders
are delivered within 72 hours.
The latest, largest and most sophisticated warehouse
opened in New Jersey in 2007 to accommodate
the company’s rapid growth in the densely populated Northeast,
and became the company’s second East Coast facility.
Also cementing consumers to the site is a sense of community
that’s fostered by its user product reviews. Newegg was
one of the earliest e-tailers to encourage customers to post their
feedback, and the company has since compiled an accessible
database of 1.8 million reviews, many in video format. Besides
providing purchasing guidance, the forum allows enthusiasts
and newbies to share insights and other information beyond the
how-to guides and detailed product descriptions presented by
Newegg.
“Customer satisfaction is among the highest company
priorities,” the e-tailer cites among its core values, “combining
superior service with a ‘customer is always right’ philosophy.”
Newegg apparently practices what it preaches. Last year
it bested 10 other leading consumer electronics e-tailers in a
study of customer satisfaction and future purchase intentions
produced by ForeSee Results. The company rose 1 point from
the prior year to score an 81 on the 100-point American Customer
Satisfaction Index (ACSI). “A score of 80 is considered
excellent,” said ForeSee president/CEO Larry Freed, “so Newegg.
com should be proud of their accomplishment, especially
during a recession.”
This year the online merchant tied BestBuy.com and Dell.com
for third place behind Apple and TigerDirect with another score of
80. While still outstanding, the lower score may be attributable to
sharper competition and the addition of Newegg Marketplace, a
platform for third-party sellers offering everything from jewelry and
diving gear to plumbing fixtures and pet apparel.
Chang chose the egg as his company’s namesake because
it is symbolic in China of birth and unlimited potential, while
“New” was added to signify “new hope” for e-commerce at a
time when the tech boom had gone bust.
Today the business remains one of the few and
most successful survivors of that early era of
e-commerce, turning a profit every year since
its launch and generating about $2.1 billion in
revenue in 2008, according to last year’s filing
for an as yet unrealized initial public offering.
More recently the company expanded its B
to B website, NewEggBusiness.com, through a
foray into the office supply category, and used its
selection of printer ink, toner, CE and paper products
to create a new Home & Office store that also sells small and
major appliances, furniture, lawn and garden products, tools
and housewares.
Newegg also extended its role as an authorized Vaio PC
dealer to encompass all Sony CE categories including home
and car A/V, digital imaging, mobile communications and gaming
last year, and continues to expand its private-label Rosewill
line of IT products and accessories.
Chang resumed his former role as chairman and global CEO
of corporate parent Newegg Inc. following the departure of
chief executive Tally Liu in August, and the company is currently
searching for a successor to the CEO slot.
