Zappos

Lunch 2.0 @ Zappos Labs
Friday, Jan 4th 12:00pm-2:00pm

If Zappos can "deliver happiness" then I can deliver pizza and that's how I snuck into Zappos' lunch event with the Escape From New York delivery man. When most people think of Zappos they think shoes, and lots of them. Zappos is the number one online shoe retailer with a major success in customer service. Zappos' call center is different, they don't follow any scripts and they're there for you 24/7... so if you ever need someone to talk to you can always call the Zappos' customer loyalty team -maybe that's how the new record for the longest phone conversation with them lasted 10 hours. I've heard their voices, but who were these people that would stay on the phone with someone that long just to make them happy? I went to meet this Zappos family.

I had no idea this little Zappos office even existed, and apparently some of the Zappos' employees in the Las Vegas headquarters don't either. This was their first event this office had ever hosted so when I asked about a presentation they replied, "should we have had one?" and Rian Schmidt, the engineering manager busted out a little dance for me. Then we talked strategy, which led to me getting a personal presentation.

During this web-demo for one Nick Vincent, the Senior Web Developer, showed me some of the latest ways Zappos is leveraging social media like Pintrest and Twitter. Making sure to align with the bigger brand messaging, they've rolled out product lines beyond shoes like dresses and purses. Nick also showed me a map where I could see in real-time where people are buying which shoes. With that in mind the CEO Tony Hsieh wasn't there, although I spent a good portion of one afternoon thinking of the perfect question had I did run into him. I would definitely make sure to ask the CEO how possible it would be to hook me up with the Clarks desert boot oakwood suede shoe (size 8).