Not many internet retailers have made it to $1bn in revenues. Amazon got there in less than four years and didn’t look back, but for most others the going has been tough. After the first flurry of dotcom hopefuls it was left to the bricks-and-mortar brigade to invade the internet.

It’s been a long wait, but a second generation of virtual retailers looks like it is about to break through. Tony Hsieh of online shoe store Zappos now says he expects to hit $1bn in revenues this year. Then there is Newegg, the electronics site that claims to have made it to $1.5bn in revenues in six years (according to these figures, Newegg is second only to Amazon in the US among pure internet retailers.)

These companies have something in common: a fanatical attention to customer service. For both, a wide selection and low prices are the basic price of entry, but it is superior service that makes the real difference.

Zappos started with shoes in 1999 but, like Amazon with books, this was always seen as a starting point. By the end of this year it will have branched out into clothing, accessories, and eventually categories like luggage and electronics. Tellingly, Hsieh says Zappos made “a decent operating profit” for the first time last year. He had earlier run the company for growth, at break-even. The clear message: this new generation of internet retailers is getting ready for its debut on Wall Street, and this one looks like it should have more staying power than the Webvans that came before.

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