Van Zanten's 25-yard right-foot strike proved to be the only goal of the game and it secured the Buddies a first win in their last four attempts.
Unlike against Dunfermline last weekend, where St Mirren squandered their lead just 15 seconds after the re-start, they held firm against Hibees and indeed could have added to their tally in the second period.
Gus MacPherson's men grew in confidence as the game wore on and they continued to press a Hibees side that sorely lacked the influence of the suspended Scott Brown and Kevin Thomson.
Without them there was little drive in the Easter Road side and their clearest chances came from set-piece situations.
St Mirren, by contrast had an eager worker in John Sutton, who used his power to take down high balls up the field and hold play up for his colleagues.
The Englishman came closest to adding to St Mirren's lead twice in the second half.
Firstly when he burst through and sent a fierce effort just over the bar and then when he collected a pass from Richard Brittain, but shot straight into the arms of Polish goalkeeper Zbigniew Malkowski.
As the minutes ticked down Hibs grew more desperate and threw everything forward and Tony Bullock earned the plaudits of his team-mates and the crowd when he pulled off a stunning reflex save from Abdessalam Benjelloun.
However, St Mirren held on to collect all three points from an exciting encounter that delighted MacPherson.