Amazon Woos Popular Brands To Bring Listings To Online Marketplace
By Anna Rose Welch, Editorial & Community Director, Advancing RNA
Internet giant looks to amass more data; retailers could see increased online traffic, sales
In a surprising twist, several well-known retailers may be making a deal with Amazon to bring their listings onto the Internet giant’s site. As the Wall Street Journal reported, this would be akin to making “a deal with the devil” for the retailers pondering these negotiations. Sources close to the matter have said that this deal could be signed and sealed as soon as this summer and concerns well known brands including J. Crew, Abercrombie, Ralph Lauren, Neiman Marcus, and Lord & Taylor. According to the WSJ, this arrangement, if finalized, would increase the Internet presence of nearly ten well-known retailers that have thus far shunned the online marketplace.
Amazon would not be selling these brands’ goods on its site; rather, it would list products and provide links to the retailers’ own websites. This deal would provide these retailers with more traffic from Amazon’s extensive customer base of 240 million, while Amazon stands to gain even more data. The WSJ also says that this could be a potential draw to Amazon Prime, as Prime members choosing to buy from any of these retailers would be granted Prime’s normal free two-day shipping perks. This deal would be an extension of a program that has traditionally drawn smaller retailers; the larger brands would be required to pay Amazon fees for any referrals and resulting transactions. The retailers would process the customers’ payment cards and Amazon would gain even more data for its already extensive trove of data illuminating customers’ shopping habits. With this valuable data, Amazon would continue to add to its offerings and keep growing its Prime program.
For brick-and-mortar retailers, this deal stands to give them more online traffic and encourage more online sales as e-commerce continues to grow in importance. Sources say there would also be the option for some retailers to use Amazon’s warehouse and logistics network to get customers their packages. However, there are still lingering concerns, especially surrounding how Amazon plans to use the data it gathers from these retailers. There are also concerns about whether or not the brands would stand out among all the other merchandise available on Amazon’s site.
So far, there is no word on whether any of the retailers have officially signed up with Amazon for this program. However, sources are saying that Amazon is currently at work developing software for its potential future brand partners.
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