From the Wall Street Journal
What Zappos.com did for shoes, Diapers.com is seeking to do for all manner of baby products.
Red Bank, N.J.-based Diapers.com, which just raised $30 million in funding from several venture firms, is known for its over-the-top focus on customer service.
Owned by Quidsi Inc., Diapers.com provides free shipping and delivers overnight to two-thirds of the country if an order is received before 6pm; the rest of the country gets orders within two days. The company also has a no-questions-asked return policy with free shipping on returns.
“We empower our reps to take care of the customer at really any cost,” said Marc Lore, co-founder and chief executive of the company. “If we don’t have something in stock we’ll point to a competitor that does. We do just about anything to insure customers have a good experience with the Web site.”
Sound familiar? Zappos, which recently agreed to be acquired by Amazon.com Inc. for $847 million in cash and stock, is known for its attention to customer service in the kids shoes and clothing business.
Diapers.com and its investors hope the company can turn doting parents into its own fanatical customers. Underneath a snazzy Web site with cute pictures of babies are three warehouses that efficiently churn out thousands of products like diapers, car seats and strollers. The 130-employee company has invested heavily in its infrastructure, building its own customized system for supply chain and inventory management and fulfillment, complete with robots moving products around.
“We live and die by the ability to get our products shipped out as fast and at low cost as possible,” Lore said. “It’s as much a logistics play as a front-end play.”
That’s different from Lore’s previous venture. Lore and his partner Vinit Bharara previously founded ThePit.com, an online marketplace for trading baseball and sports cards that was acquired by Topps Co. Inc. in 2001 for $5.7 million in cash.
Lore wouldn’t disclose Diapers.com’s revenue but says the company is on track for 100% growth this year compared to last year. The company was recently named the fastest growing retailer by Inc. magazine.
Diapers.com’s latest Series E funding was led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation existing investors Accel Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners and MentorTech Ventures. Diapers.com will use the new funds to build out its selection of products offered and build out its site. The company already has a feature that customizes the homepage for people based on their children’s age and other factors. Next month Diapers.com will add a baby registry service that will make it easy for friends and family to buy baby products for others.
Red Bank, N.J.-based Diapers.com, which just raised $30 million in funding from several venture firms, is known for its over-the-top focus on customer service.
Owned by Quidsi Inc., Diapers.com provides free shipping and delivers overnight to two-thirds of the country if an order is received before 6pm; the rest of the country gets orders within two days. The company also has a no-questions-asked return policy with free shipping on returns.
“We empower our reps to take care of the customer at really any cost,” said Marc Lore, co-founder and chief executive of the company. “If we don’t have something in stock we’ll point to a competitor that does. We do just about anything to insure customers have a good experience with the Web site.”
Sound familiar? Zappos, which recently agreed to be acquired by Amazon.com Inc. for $847 million in cash and stock, is known for its attention to customer service in the kids shoes and clothing business.
Diapers.com and its investors hope the company can turn doting parents into its own fanatical customers. Underneath a snazzy Web site with cute pictures of babies are three warehouses that efficiently churn out thousands of products like diapers, car seats and strollers. The 130-employee company has invested heavily in its infrastructure, building its own customized system for supply chain and inventory management and fulfillment, complete with robots moving products around.
“We live and die by the ability to get our products shipped out as fast and at low cost as possible,” Lore said. “It’s as much a logistics play as a front-end play.”
That’s different from Lore’s previous venture. Lore and his partner Vinit Bharara previously founded ThePit.com, an online marketplace for trading baseball and sports cards that was acquired by Topps Co. Inc. in 2001 for $5.7 million in cash.
Lore wouldn’t disclose Diapers.com’s revenue but says the company is on track for 100% growth this year compared to last year. The company was recently named the fastest growing retailer by Inc. magazine.
Diapers.com’s latest Series E funding was led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation existing investors Accel Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners and MentorTech Ventures. Diapers.com will use the new funds to build out its selection of products offered and build out its site. The company already has a feature that customizes the homepage for people based on their children’s age and other factors. Next month Diapers.com will add a baby registry service that will make it easy for friends and family to buy baby products for others.
