Zappos Visit

We dipped out of our Tuesday morning Redken seminar today for a company tour around Zappos. Headquartered just outside Las Vegas, this is the internet shoe company snapped up by Amazon a few years ago for $1.4 Billion.

Tasilia, Lane, Russell and
Michael at Zappos Las Vegas

It has a quirky culture that has attracted imitators from around the world. They are dedicated to delivering happiness to their customers by keeping their staff happy. At this call centre for about 600 staff, that means allowing individuals to design their own workstations and areas which results in  a medley of student digs styles.

Whilst amusing, it would drive me nuts after a while but then none of them are in visual contact with customers and it clearly works for the company. Access to life coaches, free or heavily subsidised canteen and strong team ethic are all part of the caring culture. Underlying the apparent laissez faire paternalist approach are disciplined business principles and strong vision from Tony Hsieh.

They certainly treated us like Royalty and we took away a lot of inspiration.