Case Study: RightNow eService Center

The Problem: A Customer Support Crisis at Skechers

Skechers USA Inc., led by Chairman and CEO Robert Greenberg, had built a global brand that sold fashionable footwear to teens and young adults across more than 100 countries. By 2001, the company had become a $943 million powerhouse, operating a multichannel sales strategy that included physical stores, a consumer catalog, and an online storefront. The catalog division alone reached 25 million recipients worldwide, positioning Skechers as a direct‑to‑consumer leader in its niche.

Despite the outward success, the catalog business was hemorrhaging money. Geric Johnson, the Vice President of Direct Marketing, explained that the cost of customer support had outpaced revenue. The company was receiving roughly 9,000 email inquiries each month in the latter half of 2001. Skechers had outsourced these emails to a third‑party vendor, hoping to handle the volume efficiently. In practice, the arrangement proved expensive and failed to deliver consistent service quality. Johnson said, “The outsourced vendor could not match the level of customer satisfaction that an in‑house team would achieve.”

Faced with a widening loss, Skechers’ senior leadership made the difficult decision to eliminate the entire catalog division. All 42 employees were laid off in the fourth quarter of 2001, and the company paused its e‑commerce initiatives. The sudden shutdown left a void: customers still reached out via email, and the brand risked losing its direct relationship with shoppers.

In search of a better solution, Johnson attended a technology trade show, where he met a representative from RightNow Technologies. The conversation sparked an idea: What if Skechers could move customer support into a hosted model, using an Application Service Provider (ASP) instead of an in‑house team? The ASP model promised to remove the burden from Skechers’ overtaxed IT staff and deliver a more scalable, cost‑effective platform.

Johnson was drawn to the simplicity of the RightNow approach. He envisioned an email‑only communication system that leveraged RightNow’s infrastructure. He believed the platform could maintain high service standards without requiring deep IT involvement. He presented the proposal to Skechers’ executive team, emphasizing the potential to reduce support costs and re‑engage customers in a direct channel. By early January 2002, the leadership approved the plan just before Thanksgiving.

Implementation began in earnest in early January. Johnson rehired a handful of former catalog staff who understood the brand and the customer base. Within five days, the team was trained on the RightNow system, and the eService Center was live. “We started on a Monday and by Friday night we were handling email queries ourselves,” Johnson recounted, underscoring the rapid turnaround from concept to operational reality.

Within weeks, the new consumer catalog and e‑commerce division performed better than it had ever done. RightNow’s web‑based self‑help tools reduced monthly email inquiries by 50%, dropping from 9,000 to 4,500 messages. The platform also captured richer customer data for targeted marketing campaigns, enabling more personalized outreach. All these gains were achieved with a staff size that was one‑tenth of the original catalog team, proving that a lean, hosted solution could outpace a traditional in‑house model.

Turning the Tide with RightNow eService Center

After the initial success, Skechers leveraged RightNow’s cross‑selling and upselling capabilities to broaden its product offerings. The company planned to introduce a line of apparel in the fall, using the eService Center’s built‑in tools to recommend complementary items to shoppers. This forward‑looking strategy highlighted the platform’s flexibility and its role in driving incremental revenue.

Key outcomes of the RightNow partnership are easy to quantify. First, customer support costs plummeted. By replacing a large outsourced team with a single, hosted solution, Skechers cut its monthly email queries in half and cut support staff to a fraction of its previous size. Second, the platform enhanced data collection, allowing the marketing team to refine segmentation and deliver more relevant promotions. Third, the brand experienced a modest uptick in sales - a reversal of the downward trend that had plagued the catalog division. Johnson noted that the improved service level translated into repeat business, a tangible indicator that customers valued the streamlined experience.

Beyond the immediate metrics, the partnership also had strategic implications. With a lean support structure in place, Skechers could reallocate resources to product development and brand building. The success story served as a model for other direct‑to‑consumer brands facing similar challenges, illustrating how a well‑chosen hosted solution can transform customer service into a competitive advantage.

In a broader context, Skechers’ experience reflects the growing shift toward SaaS and ASP models in retail operations. Companies that once relied on internal teams for customer engagement are now embracing cloud‑based platforms to improve agility, reduce costs, and enhance the customer experience. RightNow’s eService Center proved that when implemented thoughtfully, a hosted solution can deliver measurable ROI and set the stage for future growth.

• Provides a higher level of customer support quality
• Halves monthly email inquiries
• Captures richer customer data for targeted marketing
• Reduces support staff to one‑tenth of the original size
• Generates a modest sales increase