Glossy research: Amazon is earning the trust of fashion and beauty brands

At this point, most brands know selling on Amazon means forfeiting full control of the customer relationship — true of selling through any wholesale partner — as well as missing out on access to valuable customer data. It’s also been said that it makes brands’ concepts susceptible to being referenced in an Amazon private label. And luxury brands have widely avoided the marketplace, based on the shared belief that cachet and selling on the same marketplace as toilet paper are mutually exclusive.

But according to a recent survey of 149 fashion and beauty brand executives from Glossy+’s proprietary research panel of industry insiders, many are going there, and they’re staying there after testing the waters. 

Among survey participants, of which 59 percent identified as being from a beauty or wellness brand and 41 percent were from a fashion brand, there was a nearly even split between those at brands currently selling on Amazon (49 percent) and those at brands that are not (44 percent). Another 5 percent said their companies plan to start selling through the marketplace in 2019.

It’s a big decision to flip that switch, said Matt Sargent, svp at business strategy and research company Magid. “Fashion brands that are engaging with Amazon fall into two distinct camps,” he said. “The first is established, larger brands with considerable leverage — meaning they can live without Amazon — which allows them to negotiate favorable positioning. The second is smaller brands seeking growth through Amazon’s massive footprint. In both cases, these brands have crossed the abyss and embraced the opportunities and threats that selling on Amazon brings to a brand.”

Read the full article on Glossy.