Skip navigation

The Nordstrom Way

The Inside Story of America's #1 Customer-service Company

by Robert Spector and Patrick D. McCarthy

John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999

Category: Sales & Marketing

Get the summary
The Nordstrom Way
Forget shoes: Nordstrom department stores are all about customer-service: how to do it right, how to encourage it and how to make money at it.

In this summary you will learn

  • Why the name Nordstrom stands for customer service
  • Why Nordstrom employees operate as entrepreneurial shopkeepers
  • Why all prospective employees start their career on the sales floor
  • Why Nordstrom never hires managers externally

getAbstract rating

getAbstract rating (?)

(8)

Applicability

(8)

Innovation

(8)

Style

(7)

Level of Expertise (?)

(3)

Why you should read The Nordstrom Way

The name Nordstrom is synonymous with excellent customer-service. This book highlights what the Nordstrom department store chain does differently from its competitors to ensure that customers consistently receive superior service. This inside look is fascinating reading for anyone interested in the retail industry. Front line employees will be able to use some of the Nordstrom techniques, no matter where they work. In fact, people in almost every industry can use the customer-service practices described by the authors. Anecdotal evidence of the success of these practices makes this book easy to read and very enjoyable. Readers will learn the Nordstrom story from its humble beginnings at the turn of the 20th century, as the Wallin & Nordstrom shoe store, to its current status as a retail powerhouse. getabstract.com recommends this book not only to anyone in the retail sector, but to anyone in customer-service. This is what good service looks like, and this is how to make money with it.

About the Authors

Robert Spector is a Seattle-based freelance writer. He has covered Nordstrom since 1982 for Women’s Wear Daily and other Fairchild Fashion Group publications. Patrick D. McCarthy  has been a Nordstrom employee for more than 20 years. He is one of the company’s top salespeople.


Do you like this summary?

Comment on this summary

Be the first to write a comment!

Sign in to share your opinion

Want More?

Buy the book

Customers who read this summary also read