How did the founder of Zappos assess demand for online shoe sales when he was first exploring his idea for Zappos? He asked local shoe stores if he could take pictures of their inventory, posted these pictures online, then bought the shoes from the store if they sold online. He sold shoes online that didn't exist, then later apologized to customers that the shoes were out of stock He conducted market research by interviewing shoe fanatics about latest shoe trends and where they bought their shoes. He made sure that he had a founding team established before proceeding to explore the idea for Zappos