Amazon May Launch Apparel Brands, Already On Path to Be Largest Apparel Retailer

by | Oct 28, 2015 | Blog

On-AMZN:  We launched the Amazon apparel category in October, 2002.  This was the first launch of the “Merchants@” platform at Amazon and the category opened with purely third party sellers such as Gap, Nordstrom and Macy’s.  Since then, Amazon has added hundreds of thousands of sellers in the apparel category, and become a major retailer (not just a marketplace) for apparel category.  It has been forecasted that Amazon will overtake Macy’s as the largest apparel retailer in 2017 (read HERE).  Now comes news that Amazon Fashion may launch apparel brands and enter the private label business.  With the high gross margin in fashion (40-50% or more), it’s always been an attractive category for Amazon.  Remember — Amazon was originally named “RELENTLESS”…

Buzz Feed
Sapna Maheshwari

Amazon, which has been working hard for years to build up Amazon Fashion, anticipates selling its own private-label clothing brands, an executive said at a conference Tuesday.

“For Amazon, we know our customers love brands, many of the brands in this room…and that’s where the lion’s share of our business comes from,” Jeff Yurcisin, vice president of clothing at Amazon Fashion and CEO of Amazon’s Shopbop unit, said at the WWD Apparel and Retail CEO Summit on Tuesday. “When we see gaps, when certain brands have actually decided for their own reasons not to sell with us, our customer still wants a product like that.” Amazon may get into private-label for those kinds of goods, he added.

The remark is significant given Amazon Fashion’s efforts have centered around convincing clothing brands to sell their goods on a website better known for its low prices and efficiency over, say, presentation and curation. Amazon’s willingness to manufacture its own version of products that it can’t get from actual fashion brands might be a new negotiating chip for the company, not to mention more profitable.

Read complete article on Buzzfeed HERE

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