Amazon has purchased Zappos for $807 million. Reaction around Consumerist’s (virtual) newsroom: “Oh, no.” Then we started locking up our shoes in case our right to own them is revoked. No, no, we kid. Maybe.

CNN Money’s lead explains that Zappos is “known for its selection of shoes,” which is almost comically incorrect. Yes, Zappos carries a lot of shoes, but that’s not why customers love them so much. This can only work if Amazon allows Zappos to keep up its fantastic, stellar, wonderful level of customer service. An e-mail to employees from CEO Tony Hsieh claims that they will do just that:

Over the next few days, you will probably read headlines that say “Amazon acquires Zappos” or “Zappos sells to Amazon”. While those headlines are technically correct, they don’t really properly convey the spirit of the transaction. (I personally would prefer the headline “Zappos and Amazon sitting in a tree…”)

We plan to continue to run Zappos the way we have always run Zappos – continuing to do what we believe is best for our brand, our culture, and our business. From a practical point of view, it will be as if we are switching out our current shareholders and board of directors for a new one, even though the technical legal structure may be different.

We think that now is the right time to join forces with Amazon because there is a huge opportunity to leverage each other’s strengths and move even faster towards our long term vision. For Zappos, our vision remains the same: delivering happiness to customers, employees, and vendors. We just want to get there faster.

What do you think, fair Consumerists?

Amazon scoops up Zappos.com [CNN]
“Zappos And Amazon Sitting In A Tree…” [WSJ]

(Photo: theritters)

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