Amazon, Zappos, Victoria's Secret Among Brands Most Admired by Retail Executives

Brands including Amazon.com, Zappos.com and Victoria's Secret were among those mentioned as most admired by a panel of leading retail marketing and e-commerce executives during the FOCUS 2012: Trends in Digital Media — E-tail & Retail half-day conference presented by the Retail Marketing Society on May 9 in New York City.

"Even though it's discussed all the time, I have to say the brand I most admire is Amazon," said Maryssa Miller, head of digital commerce at JetBlue Airways, who responded to a question from moderator Robert Negron Sr. of N Group NYC about which companies the panelists most admired and wanted to emulate. "Its user experience and one-click ordering is hard to beat."

In addition, Miller discussed how Amazon Prime, a paid membership program that offers incentives such as free two-day shipping, locks consumers into the Amazon ecosystem. "The fact that Amazon Prime members can get free shipping makes it so much easier for consumers to choose to buy from Amazon vs. somewhere else."

Mark Friedman, president of e-commerce at Steve Madden, agreed with Miller about Amazon, but also discussed how he admired Victoria's Secret.

"The brand does a great job with user experience and offers consumers a seamless experience as well," he said. "The homepage, for example, is consistent with its mobile platforms, stores, catalogs and direct mail. This helps consumers have confidence with its brand. They know they'll get good products at a good value and feel sexy when they shop with them."

Perry Cooper, the chief marketing officer at Rue La La, said one of his favorites was Patagonia.

"They were the original storytellers," Copper said, referring to how the brand uses stories in its messaging to promote its brand and image. "And they're a company that has been able to stand the test of time."

Christophe Garnier, president and chief marketing officer at Totsy, a private-sale site focused on baby and kids’ products, discussed Zappos.

"At Zappos, everything is about the customer, which I admire," he said. Garnier added that there are likely more innovative companies out there with ideas that have yet to be explored.

"I believe there's more innovation out there, but this type of innovation can only be done by small, nimble companies that have the ability to move fast," he said. "Because of their size, small companies can leverage technologies more quickly and efficiently. We've been able to do that at Totsy, and we have 2.5 million consumers after being in existence in almost three years."