Introduction

Initiated in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn from an inspiration for finding a pair of brown airwalks at a local
mall nearby. In June 1999, under the domain name "Shoe Site.com" the business was officially
launched and in just a few months, it was renamed from ShoeSite to Zappos. In early 2000,
additional capital was invested by Tony Hsieh through his company Venture Frogs for the purpose of
moving into a physical office. At that time, Hsieh realized that he had a corporate possibility and
came aboard as co-CEO with Nick Swinmurn (Rossi, 2020). Following marginal gross revenues in
1999, Zappos had a turnover of 1.6 million in 2000. The objective of the company is to provide a
wide variety of brands, styles, colors, sizes and widths for the ideal purchase of shoes. Currently the
company has been progressively interested in supplying shoes, bags, eyewear, watches and
accessories for online purchase. The company strives to have the best online experience for any
product category rather than only in shoes (Zappos, 2021).

2. SWOT Analysis

2.1 Strength

At the initial stage of growing, Zappos have taken a determined effort to redirect its revenue stream
to provide exceptional customer service and a clear workplace structure, helping the company
succeed when others have stumbled (Christoffersen, 2019). Tony discussed a number of long-term
strategic initiatives that the company has adopted, such as the fact that consumers can buy as many
items they wanted and then promise 365 days of free return (Mickiewicz, 2009).

2.2 Weakness

At a price not much higher than the turnover, Zappos was sold to Amazon. Most of them have been
puzzled that an expanding company would sell at such a low price (Masnick, 2010). Even so, the fun-
style culture of Zappos online platform has achieved a strong loyalty to employees and individual
customers. However, it remains uncertain whether this relaxed nature can comply with the
environment of Amazon's customer (Swinscoe, 2016).

2.3 Opportunity

In Zappos, the online platform is much more convenient and helps consumers to understand in a
fraction of the time what they are looking for to purchase (Warren, 2020). Shoe outlets are limited in
scale and adhere to the more common sizes. If a consumer chooses to purchase a shoe which are
difficult to find for the particular sizes, the company takes this supply and offers free shipping (Zager,
2009).

2.4 Threat

Based on Zappos business nature, it is clearly known that the company's success is solely depends on
the customer service. However, the company allocates a low pay for their customer service
representatives. The real discussion centers on whether the related qualities are the most notable
factor of their work or the most attractive salaries (Lindsey, 2015).