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It’s no secret that Amazon wants to be the place you buy clothes. The e-commerce juggernaut has crept further and further into the fashion world over the past five years, starting in earnest with the launch of Amazon Fashion in 2012.
Since then, it’s formally partnered with brands like Kate Spade, Stuart Weitzman, and Marc Jacobs; it’s launched its own in-house labels; and it’s edged into fashion media with the now-cancelled online show Style Code Live and sponsorship of events like New York Fashion Week: Men’s. As Cathy Beaudoin, former president of Amazon Fashion, said in 2013, “We want to be a great department store, like Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, and Saks.”
That’s seeming more realistic than ever. While department stores are sinking, sales of apparel and accessories on Amazon are skyrocketing, with $22 billion in clothing sales in 2016, or 6.6 percent of the market. In 2017, Amazon introduced innovations like the Echo Look, whereby your Amazon Echo gives you outfit feedback, and Prime Wardrobe, which lets you try on clothes without paying for them first. Nike is also rumored to be closing a deal to sell directly on Amazon. And Prime Day 2017 is expected to be a boon for apparel brands selling on Amazon, including Michael Kors and Calvin Klein.
Walmart may be picking up speed in the race to online shopping dominance with acquisitions like ModCloth and Bonobos, but you can bet Amazon has even more tricks up its sleeve to leave Walmart — and pretty much any other competitor, including the newly united HSN and QVC — in the dust. We’re tracking it all here.