Ideas
Explore the world's #1 largest database of ideas and innovations, with 460,503 inspiring examples.
Trend Reports
Discover why 1,240 brands rely on our AI-powered Trend Reports to get better, faster insights.
Newsletter
Join 321,097 subscribers who rely on our weekly newsletter to keep up with need-to-know trends and insights.
How to Hunt
Learn more about how to hunt megatrends, ideas, patterns and opportunity.
Consumer Insights
Uncover major shifts and emerging opportunities with our exclusive PRO research.
Trend Reports
Discover why 1,240 brands rely on our AI-powered Trend Reports to get better, faster insights.
Newsletter
Join 321,097 subscribers who rely on our weekly newsletter to keep up with need-to-know trends and insights.
How to Hunt
Learn more about how to hunt megatrends, ideas, patterns and opportunity.
Advisory & Services
Accelerate innovation and ignite disruptive thinking with our award-winning programs and research.
Trend Reports
Get fast, customized trend reports, presentations and deep dives 20x faster than traditional research.
Plans
Get started today with a free consultation, our self-serve tools, or a dedicated program.
Articles & Magazine
Get inspired with our 4,210 innovation strategy articles, keynote, videos and innovation tools.
Innovation Awards
Trend Hunter’s Innovation Strategy Awards recognize the best innovation tactics gathered from our interviews with some of the world's most notable business leaders, authors and change makers.
Advisory & Services
Accelerate innovation and ignite disruptive thinking with our award-winning programs and research.
Innovation Assessment
Enhance your innovation potential with a deeper understanding of your unique innovation archetype and how your organization benchmarks.
FuturistU
Prepare for the years ahead with 100+ lessons, tactics, tools and frameworks with our full learning database.
Innovation Books
Join 20,000,000 people getting better and faster with our New York Times Bestselling books and keynote videos.
Jeremy Gutsche
Ignite your event or virtual event with our CEO, a NY Times Bestselling Author and one of the top innovation keynote speakers.
Our Team of Speakers & Virtual Presenters
Inspire your group with our most popular speakers on innovation, trends, change and futurism.
Custom Training & Events
Bring the Future Festival experience directly to your team or co-hosted custom event.
Custom Masterclasses
Join the world's leading brands who leverage our custom programs to accelerate innovation.
FuturistU 5-Day Program
Become a Futurist with our immersive 5-Day program at Future Festival World Summit.
Online eLearning
Learn the fundamentals of futurism and trends with 100+ online courses about innovation.
How to Hunt
Learn more about how to hunt megatrends, ideas, patterns and opportunity.
Contact
Get in touch to learn more, ask a question or submit a tip.
About Us
Learn more about Trend Hunter and how we accelerate innovation.
Follow-Us
Join our 3,500,000 social media followers, on the cutting edge.
How to Hunt
Learn more about how to hunt megatrends, ideas, patterns and opportunity.
FAQ
Get answers to common questions about Trend Hunter.
Community
Stay on the cutting-edge with the help of the Trend Hunter community.
Team
Meet the team trusted by hundreds of leading businesses worldwide.
Jobs
Find opportunities to accelerate your career with the #1 Trend Firm.
News
Catch up on noteworthy Trend Hunter news and media mentions.
Join
Build a portfolio and put your trend-spotting abilities to the test.
Advertising
Supercharge your marketing by partnering with Trend Hunter.
Portfolio
Visit your public portfolio and browse your past articles.
Add a Trend
Write up an article and showcase your trend-spotting skills.
My Trends
Edit your articles and see how they stack up on the leaderboards.
Settings
Edit your profile, connect your social media accounts, and more.
Add a trend, customize your dashboard, or track topics.
Future Festival
Innovation Events
Join the world's top innovators at our in person events.
Free Webinars
Learn to innovate through chaos, navigate the new normal and maintain work culture from home.
Custom Training & Events
Bring the Future Festival experience directly to your team or co-hosted custom event.
Search our database of 460,503 cutting edge ideas.

Innovating E-Commerce in Times of Change

Will Young, Director of Zappos Labs, Zappos
Anne Booth
November 29th, 2013
Will Young has been working as the Director of Zappos Labs for three and a half years. Zappos Labs is a San Francisco-based team that experiments, tests out and explores new ways people can shop Zappos. The team is inspired by the start-up culture in San Francisco, which made the city a perfect place for the team to foster their innovation. Zappos is constantly innovating and undergoing both small and large experiments to take their company to the next level, remaining a leader in innovation.

3 Questions with Will Young

1. Has there ever been an instance where another industry has influenced an innovation at your company?

We have a 3D printer in our office, and although we are not sure what it means for us yet, we have access to explore and see what it could do for Zappos in the future. There are many interesting things coming out of the “Maker Movement," such as personalized clothing, that is certainly influencing what we do here. Crowdsourcing also influences us, as retail brands like ‘Betabrand’ are now allowing you pre-order items online. We wonder what this could mean for our own brand.

2. Do you have specific rituals for re-setting your team to be creative?

There are a couple of things that we do in order to re-set to be creative. One of the ways is getting together product managers, developers and product owners, to brainstorm and open up to new ideas. We ask ourselves questions like what is shopping with your friends online? We also take part in a “Hackathon,” and are given one week to do a proof of concept, which is later shared with the team.

3. How do you identify trends? What resources does your team use to spot trends and consumer insights?

For a lot of the technical stuff, we use trend services, especially for our tech and fashion trends. Although, we are always keeping a close eye on the small start-ups concerning fashion and tech. We see what they are doing and think, what would this mean for Zappos?