Will Amazon’s Luxury Stores, without LVMH, Kering or Richemont – yet – ever become a go-to destination for high-end shoppers?
- Luxury Stores is Amazon’s latest effort to breach the luxury market, with Oscar de la Renta, Altuzarra and Roland Mouret among early participants
- Brands control the pricing and product assortment, while reviews are not currently used, helping brands maintain control of the perception of each garment
Oscar de la Renta, a brand that is a regular on red carpets and a mainstay of posh department stores, has just turned up somewhere decidedly less opulent: Amazon. Online retailer Amazon recently launched Luxury Stores, its latest effort to become a go-to destination for designer goods.
Select Prime members can access a new section of Amazon’s app that showcases US$2,790 handbags and US$8,990 gowns. Oscar de la Renta is among the early brands to participate, along with Altuzarra and Roland Mouret, maker of the close-fitting Galaxy dress beloved of celebrities.
While Amazon under CEO Jeff Bezos has successfully muscled its way into just about every category of retailing, luxury has remained difficult for the e-commerce giant. High-end brands have been hesitant to put their wares on a marketplace that sometimes has counterfeit versions of their goods.
They’ve also worried that it does not feel terribly luxurious for their US$1,000 jackets to be in a digital shopping trolley alongside dish detergent and extension cords.
This time, though, Luxury Stores is arriving amid a pandemic that has rattled shopper routines and brand strategies. If Amazon can’t get traction at this opportune moment, it might never be able to do so in this category – at least not on its own.
