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Amazon is reportedly launching a new luxury fashion platform as it doubles down on its mission to take over the apparel industry

Mary Hanbury   

Amazon is reportedly launching a new luxury fashion platform as it doubles down on its mission to take over the apparel industry
amazon fashion

Amazon is said to be making plans to launch a luxury fashion platform, according to a new report from WWD.

Industry insiders told WWD that the new platform will work similarly to a concession in a high-end specialty store, where brands essentially operate as a miniature store within a store and either lease space or give a percentage of their sales to the larger store.

Moreover, unlike with Amazon's current shopping platform, these upscale brands will have more control over their online store: what it looks like and when items will go on sale, for example.

A spokesperson for Amazon told Business Insider that the company does not comment on "rumors or speculation."

If it does come to fruition, the new site could play a crucial role in bolstering Amazon's position in fashion, an area the company has been doubling down on in recent years.

"Luxury has not been something they have been able to crack," Doug Stephens, founder of industry website Retail Prophet, said in a recent conversation with Business Insider. Stephens added that the prevalence of counterfeit products on Amazon's site has "tarnished" its reputation when it comes to clothing.

Still, "don't discount their ability to upset any channel once they put their sites on it," he said.

Other experts say that the shopping experience on Amazon hasn't traditionally lent itself well to fashion shopping. While it is a top seller for basics, it has had less success bringing customers in to shop for more fashionable pieces.

"People aren't inspired to discover, they are looking for efficiency," Joaquin Villalba, CEO of Nextail and former head of European logistics for Inditex, recently told Business Insider.

Villalba described the shopping experience on Amazon as "dry."

Other brands are also retreating from Amazon's main site. Birkenstock and, more recently, Nike, have both cut ties with Amazon after previously being listed on the site.

While neither Amazon nor Nike commented on how successful their partnership was, early reports from Bloomberg suggested that it wasn't living up to Nike's expectations, as the sports retailer wasn't able to keep a handle on Amazon's third-party marketplace and the stream of counterfeit Nike products cropping up there.

According to WWD, the new platform will only be available in the US when it launches, but Amazon has plans to roll it out internationally. It is reportedly working with around 12 brands at present.

Read the WWD report here.

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