With a strong focus on customer service, shoe retailer Zappos.com is on track to double sales this year to about $65 million from $32 million last year, CEO Tony Hsieh tells InternetRetailer.com. "We're profitable, and definitely attribute that to focusing on our customers' needs," Hsieh says. Zappos stocks more than 200,000 pairs of footwear from about 150 brands.
Zappos also offers free shipping and free returns on all orders--a service Hsieh says has gone a long way to help consumers become comfortable with buying shoes online. "We get e-mails every day from customers telling us, 'If it weren't for your free shipping and free returns, I wouldn't have tried you in the first place,'" he says.
Hsieh adds that Zappos also charges no restocking fee. It processes nearly all of its returns as well as order shipments through United Parcel Service of America Inc. To return a shipment, customers print out a packing label from Zappos.com, attach it to the original package, then drop it off in any UPS box or shipping facility. Customers have 60 days from the date of purchase to return an item.
Zappos, which also operates two retail stores and one warehouse outlet store, does 99% of its business online, Hsieh says.
Zappos began operating in June 1999, showing sharp growth in annual sales ever since, Hsieh says. Sales reached $1.6 million in 2000, followed by $8.6 million in 2001 and $32 million in 2002, he says.
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