Zappos transparency vs Amazon's secrecy - how will their two methods merge?

The announcement only hit the presses this morning...but already it is possible to see the cultural differences between Amazon and Zappos.

The former e-commerce giant, dominating the online retail seen for the last 15 years, has a particularly cagey CEO and founder, Jeff Bezos, who prefers to bypass pens-at-the-ready journalists and announce his big news on YouTube.

CEO of Zappos Tony Hsieh notoriously, however, enjoys an open transparency with his employees and customers - and is pretty happy to give interviews as he did with us earlier this year for MeetTheBoss.com

When talking to our Adam Burns about how he hires employees for the company Tony Hsieh said passion for shoes is not the objective.

"When we hire anyone actually it doesn't matter what position it's for," he said. "You can be an accountant or lawyer or someone that works for our customer loyalty team which is what we call our call center reps. We do two sets of interviews. The first set is done by the hiring manager and his or her team so it's for the standard stuff like fit within the team, technical ability, relevant experience and so on.

"But then our HR department does a separate set of interviews purely for culture fit and they have to pass both in order to be hired. So we've actually passed on a lot of experienced and talented people that we know can make an immediate impact on our top or bottom line but if they're not a culture fit, then we won't hire them."

So Zappos mantra is customer service and culture fit.

Hsieh said: "One of the things that we're looking for are people that are actually passionate about the company vision which is to be about the very best customer service.

"We have the belief that you should hire for attitude and then the rest can be trained. Skills can be trained. And I think it's pretty hard to train someone to have a good attitude if they don't."

But does the Zappos culture match Amazon's? Hsieh announced the move to his employees in the same way he treats his employees.

In the interview he said: "Whether it's through blogging or much more through twittering I think it's just another way where customers can feel a more personal, emotional connection to the company. It's not just a faceless corporation."

And he does not want to be a faceless CEO - treating his own employees with the same level of respect putting their needs and concerns at the centre of his being.

In the email he addresses possible questions the employees might raise about the acquisition. He writes: "As mentioned above, we plan to continue to run Zappos as an independent entity. In legal terminology, Zappos will be a "wholly-owned subsidiary" of Amazon. Your job is just as secure as it was a month ago."

At the beginning of the email he also apologises for using formal language and later for not being able to inform employees of the agreement earlier.

"First, I want to apologize for the suddenness of this announcement," Hsieh writes. "As you know, one of our core values is to Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication, and if I could have it my way, I would have shared much earlier that we were in discussions with Amazon so that all employees could be involved in the decision process that we went through along the way."

Amazon, on the other hand can be intensely private about the company. It rarely speaks to the media or comments on stories it is involved in, and in comparison to Zappos, customer service is not good.

The announcements from both sides focus on the communal principle of good customer service. But who will take the helm on customer/employee transparency. Will Hsieh's open method prevail, or Bezos sneaky secrecy encroach on their current policy.

More stories:

Zappos - Everything you need to know

Zappos - The benefits of a loyal customer base

Zappos and Amazon, two titans, two stores, what's the outscome

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