Amazon has completely changed its fashion strategy
The massive e-commerce company is saying it no longer is focusing on courting luxury brands, Jennie Perry, chief marketing officer of Amazon's fashion division, told Business of Fashion.
"There has been lot of speculation on us entering the luxury market and that is just not something that we're focused on right now," Perry said. "What we are focused on is developing an experience for our large customer base. That customer seems to have a great appetite for many things."
Instead, the company has secured partnership brands mid-tier brands such as Lacoste and Theory, reports Business of Fashion. The fashion site also notes Amazon is focusing on enhancing the user experience, as Amazon's front-end is not tailored to suit selling high fashion products.
For years, the brand has worked arduously to gain a credible reputation within the fashion industry. In 2012, the massive e-commerce company set up a warehouse for photography in the trendy neighborhood Williamsburg in Brooklyn, hoping to woo luxury fashion companies and their loyal followers. With Cathy Beaudoin as president of Amazon's fashion division at the helm, this has been an apparent part of its mission.
Luxury brands, however, have not been intrigued.
"Amazon will never sell Louis Vuitton, because we are the only ones that sell it," Louis Vuitton cheif executive Yves Carcelle told Vogue UK in 2012. "This is a model of direct control that we pioneered, and I think long term it is the direction that most luxury ecommerce will take."
Now it seems that Amazon is finally getting the message.
The brand is still attempting to put itself front and center in the fashion world as a part of its slow climb up the fashion ladder. The company is sponsoring the first-ever New York Men's Fashion Week, WWD reported earlier this year.
Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.