Amazon may enter fashion market

Thursday, October 29, 2015 - 10:23 by Graham Miller

Fashion sales made via safe shopping online are always on the rise, so it is unsurprising to hear that e-commerce giant, Amazon, is thinking about creating its own range of clothing, to compete with its rivals.

Trusted Reviews reports that although Amazon’s previous efforts to sell fashion lines from other brands have been successful, it is now seeking to push this part of its business further, with own-brand apparel.

In essence, this is more about the importance of brand power than the firm’s desire to sell clothing. And if Amazon cannot convince certain companies to sell their clothing lines through its website, it will simply make its own variants and put pressure on third parties in this way.

Where Amazon is likely to face real problems is the way its e-commerce service is currently perceived by consumers, most of whom see it as an outlet for affordable items sold at reduced prices compared with the high street. This does not tie in with the concept of high fashion, so any own-brand clothing it does sell via safe shopping online is likely to be at the discount end of the spectrum.

Amazon’s existing range of branded products covers a variety of items, from devices like the Kindle Fire range of tablets to own-brand groceries which are beginning to become available in the UK. And it is worth noting that not every product produced by the retailer has been a success.

The Fire Phone, for example, was a high profile failure which did not manage to make much of an impact in the mobile market. Creating a clothing line is less of a risky proposition for Amazon, but convincing customers to actually buy the latest fashions direct may be more difficult for the firm to achieve immediately.