Today, the Zappos.com mobile team released the latest version of the Zappos App (version 3.0) for Android and Kindle. This release contains the most significant changes and feature updates since the inception of the Zappos Android App. Read on to hear more from Zappos’ mobile software engineers Matt Runo and Matt Kranzler (a.k.a. “The MATTS”) about some of the new changes. Happy shopping!

Even Easier Shopping and Shipping

In a world where you have too many credit cards or your spouse shares your tablet, the new version of the Zappos app helps you keep things straight by allowing you to color code and nickname your credit/debit cards (i.e. His Visa, Her Visa) so you can quickly identify the card you want to use for your purchase. 

Redesigned My Account Page

Account page redesign includes product thumbnails for each order and a simple selection process for shipping and payment methods.

Redesigned Saved Payment Screen

Create an easier shopping experience by storing your payment types, organized with easy-to-view icons.

Saved Payment Custom Color Theming

Do you use more than one payment type for shopping? Customize the color of each of your payment types!

Upon purchase, our new UPS package tracking widget (below) shows you how many days, hours or minutes until your package should be delivered. You can track as many orders as you would like, and as an added bonus you can track any UPS packages, not just those from Zappos.

Intuitive User Interface

Our Android app now looks and works well on all Android-powered platforms due to the responsive design we incorporated. The new product pages are buttery smooth and our tablet app features fancy animations as well. We went out of our way to make sure that UI controls are positioned just where you'd expect them - right under your fingers - no matter what device you're using the app on. We’ve also made it easier to expand our high-res photos to full-screen: just tap on the photo with two fingers or hit the Expand-O-Matic button in the action bar and voilá.

By working with some new features in the Android operating system, we're able to store your account on your device instead of requiring a PIN entry, and we can log you in automagically. Of course, you can always log out if you'd prefer not have your account stored.

Fast and Easy Checkout

Our entire checkout flow has been re-envisioned from the ground up. We spent hours watching our users work through the checkout process and found several places where we could make things better… so we did!

• The biggest change in the checkout process you’ll see is that it is now contained within a single screen, making the entire process clean and simple
• We’ve added a visual indicator so you know how many steps you have left before your final checkout page
• We redesigned the shipping address, shipping method and payment method selection process to make things easy to find and select.

Combined, these changes make the checkout process much more fluid and easier than before.

How to Get the New Zappos App for Android and Kindle

The version 3.0 Zappos App for Android is available in the Google Play store and Amazon Market place today!  Download it and give it a try!

                                  Exclusive Technology Helps Keep Couples Together

HENDERSON, NV – April 1, 2013 – This morning Zappos.com announced the launch of a new Fashion Management System (FMS) which will notify customers when sock/sandal combinations are added to their shopping carts, blocking them from making a purchase. Zappos conducted numerous focus groups and learned that an overwhelming 93% of men who wear socks-with-sandals are less attractive to their spouses.

“We’ve all experienced this travesty, and as a service company, we felt it was our responsibility to save the world from this fashion epidemic,” says Chris Peake, head of Zappos Product Development. “There’s still a lot of work to be done, but the war on socks-with-sandals is worth fighting.”

While in beta, the FMS is available to customers whose cumulative lifetime spend on the Zappos.com website exceeds $1 million. To sweeten the deal, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has offered a free awkward dancing llama from his personal collection on a first come, first serve basis to FMS users who make a purchase today.

The Zappos Labs team is happy to announce a new version of PinPointing!

PinPointing was initially launched 3 weeks ago and we were incredibly excited about the feedback we got from news coverage and our customers.  

We’re even more excited about this new update.  Some of the things you will find in this update:

A New Homepage

The new PinPointing home page makes it easier to check out our featured pinners.  See what PinPointing recommends for some of Pinterest’s popular celebrities, publications and brands.

Search

We quickly realized not everyone knows their Pinterest username.  Now enter a name or email address and we’ll see what we can find. 

What do you think?

Our hope with PinPointing was to make a fun new way to discover some of our great products and departments (did you know we sold Housewares and Wedding Dresses?) in a more personalized way.  We would love to hear what you all think and hear any suggestions you have on ways to make it even more useful. 

Leave a comment below, email the Zappos Labs team at labs@zappos.com or shout out a tweet (@ZapposLabs).

Check out the new version of PinPointing HERE!.

PinPointing is the newest way to discover Zappos products based on a Pinterest user’s pins! Look up any Pinterest username and check out the breadth of fun products we think that user will love based on their pins and boards. If you’re digging what you see, you can pin them directly to your Pinterest boards. Or if you find yourself feeling like pinning won’t satisfy your shopping bug, go ahead and check out the product details and other similar products.

Stumped on what to get your friend for their birthday? Search for your buddy’s Pinterest username and we’ll show you products your friend might like. Imagine their bewilderment as they unwrap their gift revealing that special something that reflects their unique style perfectly!

So how do we do this? For each Pinterest user, we look at their pin descriptions and board names. We then match the keywords with hundreds of thousands of Zappos products and show you the products with a common theme. If you pinned a neon purse, we may recommend other neon products you might like. If you have a board called My Future Wedding, we’ll show you the perfect dresses and accessories for that special occasion.

What are you waiting for? It’s time for some pinteresting discoveries. Start pinning and exploring now! START PINPOINTING!

We all know Zappos.com is more than just shoes and quirkiness, and we had so much fun showing that at the 2012 Bay Area Maker Faire!

We hacked an Xbox Kinect® to let people virtually try on some of our clothes without the need to belly-suck. We also had some fun boxes chock-full of costumery for us to play dress-up and just release that inner child (and no, we don’t mean free child birthing).

Shaun, Pawel, *your's truly* (Alice) and Joel

We took photos and gave away $100 Zappos.com gift certificates to the top three crowd favorites. Congrats to our three winners below!

We had a blast - thanks to everyone who joined us in our silly shenananigans!

We are so excited to announce that our very own ZN iPad app was recently nominated for a Webby Awards in the Mobile & Apps Shopping category (Tablets & Other Devices).

Vote for ZN on The Webby Awards People’s Voice voting ballot! Ballots are open until April 26^th.

Click on the photo to vote for the ZN!

Here's a recap of the first ReCommerce Hack Day back in the fall. Stay tuned for the next one in 2012!

The Zappos API team held the 9^th Hack-a-thon event from December 12-16^th. The theme was “Do it Live”, which meant each team was encouraged to try and have their project accessible to the intended users by the end of the week.

In the end, seven teams accomplished this challenge. In addition to the Hack-a-Thon, the Zappos API team hosted a public “Hack-a-thon Hack-a-long” contest open to any non Zappos developer that ran for the duration of the Hackathon.