A Shine On Their Shoes: Zappos.com's blue-ribbon customer service is winning market share

Tony Hsieh, CEO of e-tailer Zappos.com, became a serial entrepreneur earlier than most. At age 12, he ran a business making buttons by sealing photos between a sheet of plastic and a metal disk. After advertising in a directory aimed at other kids, he was soon bringing in a few hundred dollars a month. By college, Hsieh was selling pizzas out of his Harvard dorm. Another student, Alfred Lin, was equally enterprising: He bought whole pizzas from Hsieh and resold them by the slice.

So it's not surprising that, at 31, Hsieh is already on his second grown-up gig as CEO, with Lin as his CFO. His company sells shoes online, differentiating itself by its selection -- some 90,000 styles and more than 500 brands, from Bass to Givenchy -- and a near-fanatical devotion to customer service. Shipping and return shipping are free; most repeat customers get upgrades to free overnight or second-day delivery. "With Zappos, the shoe store comes to you," says Pamela Leo, a customer in Montclair, N.J. "I can try the shoes on in the comfort of my own home. I can tell if the shoes I want will really work with a particular suit. It's fabulous." Hsieh, loath to advertise, has relied on such word of mouth to help double Zappos' sales every year for the past six, to a projected $350 million this year. He says Zappos will become profitable next year.