This is the first part of two-case series of Zappos's blue ocean strategic move as an innovative online shoe retailer. Part A focuses on how Zappos reconstructed the existing boundaries of the online footwear retail industry. It describes Zappos's distinctive value proposition that is neither an offline nor online shoe store in the conventional sense. The case also introduces how Zappos broke the value-cost trade-off of the conventional online shoe store. The case comes with a theory-based video case, which can be obtained from <a href="https://www.blueoceanstrategy.... https://www.blueoceanstrategy....