For Zappos, shoes and clothes are just one part of the equation. Passion and Purpose are key ingredients that will have more impact on long-term profit growth than just a focus on profits alone.

Tony has deemed Happiness to be the Company’s business model.įor emerging leaders who are taught to focus on profits, Tony would say that profits are relevant more as an end state. And today, the goal has elevated once more to “Delivering Happiness.” From an origin of shoes to its current inventory across clothing and retail categories, the future is wide open for the company to Deliver Happiness in new ways tomorrow. As of 2007, the goal became creating a personal emotional connection. Simply put, hire more great people with the right DNA and character and it will have spillover benefits across everything the company does. Soon after, in 2005, the company began to transform itslef as it recognized its culture and core values were a platform to success. 4 years later, in 2003, the priority evolved to become great customer service. For Tony, the Zappos journey began in 1999 when the goal was to offer the largest selection of shoes. Tony shared the keys to building a customer service focused business that WOWs customers and has achieved 75% of its orders from repeat customers. The presentation was part of Tony Hsieh’s bus tour coinciding with the release of his best selling book, “Delivering Happiness.” Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh recently spoke to American Marketing Association Tampa Bay and shared his journey in creating Zappos, which sold to Amazon for approximately $900 million in 2009.

Zappos happiness book