Amazon's push into apparel beginning to show

By Daphne Howland | January 21, 2016

Dive Brief:

• Amazon is working to boost its apparel sales—and it’s beginning to show, with its listing of clothing and accessories products growing 91% last year to 30 million items, according to reporting by Re/Code.
• That amount surpasses Amazon’s extensive electronics offerings and is the equivalent, Re/Code says, of the clothing on offer at 250 Wal-Mart Supercenters combined. The e-retail giant could beat Macy’s by this year and become the country’s number one seller of apparel, according to Cowen and Co.
• Apparel retail is a $250 billion business in the U.S., though it’s proving to be a tough sector. Apparel sales fell 0.9% in December, in part due to soft demand for winter gear, and rose just 0.6% year over year, according to the U.S. Commerce Department’s monthly retail sales reportreleased last week. 

Dive Insight:

For years, clothing brands have been loathe to sell on Amazon, amid concerns over price cuts and loss of brand control. But increasingly, apparel brands find they can’t pass up such a significant portal to sales, especially considering the difficulties of apparel sales these days.

That could lead many to establish web-based stores-within-stores—a successful approach in brick-and-mortar retail—on online marketplaces including Amazon. 

Brands sold on Amazon benefit from the retailer’s rich search capabilities and its Prime fulfillment benefits, like free two-day shipping. Amazon beats Google on search, with 44% of shoppers turning to Amazon to discover products, and half of those shoppers make a purchase there, research shows.