Nick Swinmurn clearly wanted to appeal to customers first acknowledging the power of brand perception.  In San Francisco, Nick was looking for a pair of shoes in the mall. He was in disarray because he could not find the right color for his size; this sparked a moment of innovation, as Nick had a business idea.  With customer happiness being the undying foundation, Nick wanted to build a web site where people could find the biggest variety of shoe brands to purchase.  Nick Swinmurn initially received a $500,000 dollar startup contribution from Tony Hsieh; Hsieh was deemed co-founder. 

Zappos.Com eventually grew to have the biggest variety of shoe brands amongst its competitors.  Their idea was revolutionary and started being coined as "e-tailers".  

When Zappos.Com began its operations in 1999, they purchased products through individual retailers.  In the year 2000, Zappos.Com had acquired so many brands that manufacturers agreed to ship directly to the company; this eliminated the middle man and extra costs.  They also enabled free shipping for customers for both ways of the transaction.

As the internet created a hotbed of online shopping, Zappos looked to improve the technology on its website, allowing for customers to print shoe graphs online and allowing live customer service chats.  

In 2002 Zappos started managing its own inventory thanks to technological advances, and opened up a warehouse in Kentucky.  This was due to a increase in the company's growth.  Zappos, in 2005,  moved its homebase from San Francisco, California to Las Vegas, Nevada.  They were able to do so with the help of a $35 million dollar investment from Sequoia Capital.

In 2006, Nick Swinmurn left the company, and Tony Hsieh became sole CEO.  Swinmurn's replacement   Zappos was growing so fast that they had to purchase a bigger fulfillment base in Shepherdsville, Kentucky.  Online retailers started popping up all over, as the industry grew to be quite vast.

In 2007, Zappos bought 6pm.com, which was another retailer of discounted accessories and shoes.  Zappos Insights was created by the company for a monthly fee of $40; this allows customers live online sessions with stylists.  In 2009, Amazon bought out Zappos for $940 million dollars.  This acquisition was one of the biggest ones in retail history.  Zappos.Com become one of the biggest companies in the world.

Here is a list of Zappos.Com Gross Sales from 2000-2008:

List is provided by http://www.wwd.com/footwear-news/markets/zappos-milestone-timeline-2121760:

2000: $1.6 million

2001: $8.6 million 

2002: $32 million

2003: $70 million

2004: $184 million

2005: $370 million

2006: $597 million

2007: $840 million

2008: $1 billion

Owner: Amazon.com

Management: Alfred Lin, COO, CFO

                       Tony Hsieh, CEO

                       Fred Mossler