We took an interest in Amazon’s purchase of Zappos back in July, when the deal was announced as a possibility. After all, fly kicks and sophisticated reading material are the two things one must have in place before posting up at the local coffee shop.

In all seriousness, though, $900 million — the pricetag three months ago — was mindblowing. But when Amazon announced yesterday that the retail giant would buy the shoe/clothing giant for a wh-wh-whopping $1.2 billion, we about jumped out of our Chucks.

But when you look at what Zappos offers in terms of superior customer service and innovative use of social media, you get the picture of one smart — and lucrative — company.

Customer Service: Zappos’ free shipping and free, 365-day return policy are already well known, not to mention all the other little things Zappo’s does to give its customers all the satisfaction of being in a really, really good shoe store without leaving home.

Social Media: As an extension of its service-oriented (versus price-oriented) approach to sales, Zappos has embraced social media. CEO Tony Hsieh is a savvy Twitterer, promoting company community-building with its customer base. His tweet sharing the memo that went to his employees about the Amazon deal is a perfect demonstration of transparency’s value to ongoing brand development.

Zappos also interacts with customers through its blog, providing content that’s fun to keep up with even outside of the activity of shopping for shoes, such as this completely random Lady Gaga “interview.”

On the more high-tech end of things, have you checked out Mappos? Now this really is amazing. It’s essentially a map of the US that, once you bring up the page, shows instantaneously what people across the country are ordering, and where. It’s hypnotic, watching people shop online in real time: “Oh, someone in Evansville, IN, just bought a pair of Addidas Sambas”…”Oh, someone in southeastern Washington just bought Beatle boots”… and so forth. It’s great if you’re looking for fashion ideas; click on a shoe that pops up, and it takes you straight to where you can buy a pair for yourself. And the interactive rating system absolutely rakes in up-to-the-minute customer feedback.

Zappos, darn it, you earned that $1.2 billion payday. That’s what we call walkin’ hard.