In 1999, Nick Swinmurn found himself frustrated with the fact that he could not find a pair of shoes that he so desperately wanted at his local mall.  It was in that same year that Swinmurn pitched his idea of starting an online shoe store to Tony Hsieh and Aldren Lin.  Swinmurn did his research and discovered that footwear, at the time, was a $40 billion dollar market and it didn't take long for Hsieh and Lin to invest money, 2 million dollars to be exact.  Zappos was officially launched in June of 1999 under its previous name, ShoeSite.com (the name then changed to Zappos, originating from Zapatos, the Spanish word for shoes). In 2008 Zappos found themselves reaching 1 billion dollars in sales and in 2009 they ranked number 23 on the "Fortunes top 100 businesses to work for." Also in 2009, Zappos was bough outright by Amazon.com.  for 940 million dollars in a stock and cash deal.  With this buy out, came reward.  Owners of shares in Zappos received around 10 million Amazon.com shares and employees received a separate 40 million dollars cash (and restricted stock units).

Zappos needed to get their name out there, and what better way to do that than going through social media.  On their Facebook account, Zappos has a tag line that reads, "lets be in a like-like relationship". Clever, I know.  By clicking the like button, customers are then lead into a chance to enter the sites email list for opportunities to view the sites products.  The site also offers for customers to become "a fan" which of course offers content on the site that only "fans" are able to view.
Another thing that sets the Zappos site apart from other online shoe stores is their "fan of the week" contest.  Customers send in clever pictures of their Zappos box and other fans of the site get to vote on the best one.  The winner gets highlighted and is put on display on the sites wall image photo.  This company is definitely all about putting their customers first.

By engaging with the customers and visitors of the site, Zappos has found great success and continues to grow more popular.  Today, it is named as the worlds largest online shoe store.  I'd say Zappos, is doing something right.

Image: google.com

Content: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zappos