Many retailers have felt the pressure of competing against Amazon. The behemoth online retailer sells pretty much everything, and it does so better than most traditional retailers.
But high-end fashion is one industry that hasn’t really been troubled by Amazon so far. In a market where success is dictated by style, faster shipping and lower prices make less impact.
Amazon does already sell a lot of clothes, but its focus has been the lower end of the apparel market. Just as in other sectors, Amazon’s sheer scale and agility allows it compete aggressively with some of the high street clothing retailers. Some forecasts predict that Amazon will be the biggest clothing retails in the US in 2017. With such a solid mass-market base to build on, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Amazon slowly creep up-market.
So how might Amazon have an impact on the fashion? I see two potential strategies. Using its search and retail data to spot gaps in the market or hot trends, it could react more quickly than traditional fashion players with private label brands. It could also partner with existing fashion players to improve their logistics and shipping.
