Zappos.com, Inc. (Zappos) is a Las Vegas-based online retailer, founded by Nick Swinmurn in June 1999. He was inspired by his own unpleasant experience of failing to find his desired pair of shoes at his local mall. Therefore, he decided to approach Tony Hsieh and Alfred Lin with the idea of selling shoes online. A few months after its launch, the company’s name was changed from ShoeSite to Zappos (which is a variation of “Zapatos,” the Spanish word for “shoes”).

Zappos’ initial goal was to provide the absolute best selection in shoes. Over the years, this goal evolved to positioning itself as an online service leader who provides the best product selection (shoes, clothing, accessories and more) as well as best customer service. This was brought about by CEO Tony Hsieh’s realization back in 2000 that Zappos’ focus should not be solely on what they sold but rather on how they sold their products. Hence, the company’s tagline and overarching ethos is to “Deliver Wow” to their customers.

In addition, the company strongly believes that building quality relationships with employees is an important aspect in communication, collaboration as well as boosting productivity. This entails empowering employees through various employee engagement activities and encouraging open communication within the organization, as evidenced from their “Zappos Family Core Values”.

Our research aims to determine how Zappos’ corporate culture has led to their social media efforts and success in building a brand community. The value of this study is to recommend suitable social media strategies that will support Zappos in sustaining its competitive advantages and continue to be the best online service leader and in building their brand community.
                                                          A look into Zappos’ office

Presented to you by Connie Koh, Daphne Kwee, Ekta Jagtiani, Karen Ng & Yang Shuzhen