CNBC: Let’s talk a little bit about the expansion. Now that your sales are so extraordinary, you’ve started to branch off into more specialized versions of the Zappos site. Can you tell us a little about that?
TONY HSIEH: We have a few different vertical sites, what we internally call vertical sites right now. We have www.Running.Zappos.com. We have www.Outdoor.Zappos.com. We have www.Wideshop.Zappos.com, and we also have www.Couture.Zappos.com. All of those are specialized websites made specifically for that lifestyle. So if you’re a runner and you are looking to outfit yourself from head to toe, then go to www.Running.Zappos.com, and not only will you find the footwear, but also the apparel, the running watches, the shorts, whatever it is that you need as a runner.
CNBC: What is the intention behind doing that?
TONY HSIEH: It’s really to provide better service for our customers, so each of those websites actually has a different 1-800 number that you can call, and when you call that number, someone who is specialized in that field will take your phone call and be able to go into much more detail than if you call our general website number, and those people are here in the building as well.
CNBC: Now who are some of the people that sit behind us? You can turn around and gesture. What are some of these departments?
CNBC: Can you talk about how you’ve expanded the brands a lot since the inception of the site?
TONY HSIEH: When we first started, we only had four brands, and so people didn’t think that was a great shoe store. But now we have over a thousand brands, and it’s not just footwear, but also apparel, handbags and accessories, so it’s a much wider selection than you’ll be able to find anywhere. Our warehouse actually holds over three and a half million pairs of shoes, and that represents over a thousand brands and over a hundred thousand styles, which is actually physically impossible to house in any brick and mortar store.
CNBC: Are you still trying to increase the number of brands and number of styles?
TONY HSIEH: We are increasing the number of brands and styles, but we’re not going for just sheer number. It’s really based on what customers ask for. So if we get a lot of requests from customers for a particular brand, then we’ll add that brand.
CNBC: What are your goals now? What would be your goals for the next how few years?
TONY HSIEH: I guess a goal for five years from now is for Zappos to be a household brand name that everyone knows. Not just a name that people know, a name that people are passionate about, and I think there are very few brands like that. There are a lot of mass consumer brands, but very few brands that are mass consumer brands and that everyone is passionate about. And we think that if we can provide the very best service and the very best online shopping experience, then hopefully, eventually, everyone will be as passionate about it as our current customers are.
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