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The prices at Zappos are very close to MSRP... at least for current sneakers. I've been tangentially involved with the action sports industry for years. My frie
by menloparkbum 18y ago
The prices at Zappos are very close to MSRP... at least for current sneakers. I've been tangentially involved with the action sports industry for years. My friends own shops and apparel companies and I've done web and video work for them. Zappos gets stuff for lower cost than the shops because they do so much volume. They also cut out the distributor and don't have to pay for retail space, which are the two points where other retailers lose. Even with returns they are making a killing. An $80 sneaker probably only costs them $20.
- mattmaroon 18y agoWell, if their markup is that high, then I suppose even a couple $15 shipping labels still leaves a profit. I'd love to know the ratio of returned shoes to ones kept. I bet it's greater than 1:1.
- cdr 18y agoDoes shipping a pair of shoes really cost them $15 each way? I kind of doubt that, too.
- Kaizyn 18y agoWhen they can walk the packages over to the UPS hub and they have such a large volume in shipping, UPS probably cut them a pretty good deal also.
- mattmaroon 18y agoYou do actually get discounts (regardless of volume) for being near certain UPS locations. About 20 minutes from where I live, there are shit tons of trucking and mail order catalog fulfillment warehouses because it's next to Rt. 80 and almost halfway in between NYC and Chicago. UPS rates from there are ridiculously low.