This headline, Netflix names ex-US postmaster as COO, landed in my newsreader this afternoon. While it might strike many people as odd (after all, the postal service isn't where most of us think of tapping the best content industry talent), it really reinforces the reasons why Netflix is winning the DVD rental wars.
When I added Netflix to my list of 50 Content Companies that Matter, one of the key differentiators was that "Netflix focused its efforts on building the logistics infrastructure to scale its business". Early on, Netflix understood that developing an infrastructure that would make it simple and painless for its users to use the service was the key to success. No one ever felt that Blockbuster provided a good user experience, and it will be a while before the efforts of Yahoo, Google and Microsoft begin to pay off. In the meantime, Netflix continues to create raving fans among their users, with loyalty comparable to that of Tivo.
Hiring former US postmaster William Henderson as COO will help them continue to execute at a high level. While the postal service may not win accolades for its customer service, they excel at consistently delivering mail and small packages on time.
According to CEO Reed Hastings, "Bill Henderson is about the only person on the planet who looks at our volume of mail as a trickle".
It seems like the perfect hire to ensure that the Netflix infrastructure can support their goal of 20 million subscribers by the year 2012.
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