Happy Birthday, Zappos: A Billion-Dollar Business Built on ... Culture?
The number one objective of Zappos -- known mostly for its selling of shoes online (and its free two-way shipping) -- is to establish a great company culture. If you do that, CEO Tony Hsieh contends, all the "other stuff" falls into place.
Like being able to sell people stuff.
After all, if your staff is happy, they'll naturally make your customers happy.
Today is the 10th anniversary of the birth of Zappos. The evidence is apparently in. Here's the company's sales growth story, in that period of happy culture (and business) creation:
What makes the folks in Las Vegas tick (and most proud), besides shaving their heads, painting their hair Zappos blue and showing off the knick-knacks on their desks on Zappos.tv? Between the Lines went to head Zapper Hsieh (the man known best, sometimes, for having nearly 700,000 followers on Twitter) and asked how the company would celebrate its birthday -- and what he thought of the first ten years.
• How are you going to celebrate? What inside and outside Zappos events are you planning?
In Las Vegas, we will be holding an all-hands meeting at an amphitheater in the afternoon. Afterwards, there will be a happy hour at a local bar.
However, our "big" celebration will be at the end of July, when suppliers are in town for the WSA (World Shoe Association) shoe show. We will be hosting a big party with 3000+ attendees, including vendors and employees.
I'm proudest of the family culture we've built at Zappos and that we've been able to build the Zappos brand to be about the very best customer service.
• What surprised you about how Zappos unfolded?
I think the most surprising thing is that we are in Las Vegas now. I don't think anyone thought that was even a remote possiblity when Zappos first started.
• Not everything turns out as planned or well. Where did Zappos stub its toe and how?
We're certainly not perfect, and we make mistakes every day. Our biggest mistakes are probably in bad hires, but we've definitely gotten better at hiring over the years.