Amazon Expands E-Commerce with Online Fashion Destination

Internet behemoth Amazon.com is venturing into shaky territory on stable ground. The move? An e-commerce fashion destination, with partner 10 Crosby. The premiere online shop will feature one designer at a time — this time, Derek Lam’s diffusion line — and create a full user experience, complete with an internal mini-site that caters to the target consumer, who not only wants to shop for products, but appreciates access to exclusive interviews with the featured designer, accompanied by strong visuals. Having recently created their first TV commercial, Amazon is expanding their collection of designer wares, while integrating a successful business model on the e-com side of things, and getting their hands on top-notch publishing practices.

Last week the Business of Fashion ran an interesting article talking about the Condé Nast x Far Fetch partnership in With $20 Million of New Investment Led by Condé Nast, Farfetch Pursues Multi-Channel Vision. Never before have publishing and sales been able to harmoniously co-exist, yet as Farfetch founder José Neves states in the piece, ”You have amazing e-commerce websites with impeccable content, but they are e-commerce websites; they don’t have the authoritative voice of Vogue, Vanity Fair and other titles… Then, there are amazing magazines attracting tens of millions of readers. But their forays into e-commerce haven’t worked, at least in a way that has a meaningful impact on their balance sheets. With Condé Nast, we have a chance to think about it long-term, and try to potentially find the formula.” 

Earlier today, the Business of Fashion reported that retail giants are realizing that having an online presence — one that is clean, streamlined, and above all user-tailored — is essential in generating sales. Companies like Zara, Uniqlo and H&M are the main players. What Amazon can do differently from these companies is be selective and change their product according to which designer they are featuring in their “store.” They aren’t limited to selling one particular product for long, which is beneficial in becoming an online fashion destination. They can answer the question fashion consumers often ask themselves: “what’s new?” and “what’s next?”

“We’re trying to create a beautiful, easy fashion destination; a place that you think to go to first and you prefer,” Amazon fashion president, Cathy Beaudoin told WWD. In order to create and maintain this new shopping format, Amazon has also acquired a 40,000-square-foot photo studio space in Brooklyn to accommodate all their new photo needs, and are expecting multiple new shipments to the 10 Crosby Amazon store throughout the year, as well as a holiday capsule collection. This new shopping setup within Amazon may lead the way for many more designers to eventually launch shops within Amazon, and, as Beaudoin proposes, make the mega e-tailer not only an online shopping destination, but a potential go-to fashion destination as well. (WWD.)