Brand pages are giving sellers a chance to ditch the sweatpants
We’d like to propose the following tagline for 2021: The Year of What’s on Bottom Matters. Yup that’s right, real pants (and real clothes in general) are making a comeback. While we’ve loved the Year of “What’s the Point?” aka the Year of Athleisure aka 2020, the time has finally come to revamp our COVID closets.
Normally that would mean a jam-packed day of passive-aggressive parking lots and Auntie Anne’s Pretzels because people prefer to take new clothes on a quick spin around the dressing room before inviting them back to their place to spend the night. But with limited in-person shopping (thank you COVID) and the growing use of the internet (thank you internet), the ecommerce share of apparel sales went from 30% to almost 40% in the last three years.
And guess who was the largest online seller of apparel in 2020? Hint: it rhymes with ShmAmazon. Which we found interesting because, to put it plainly, why? But after looking into it, it makes total sense. Let’s break it down:
- New brand page, who dis? Unlike traditional product pages, Amazon’s brand pages allow sellers to create a clean and customized look, or in marketing speak: an opportunity for storytelling. Sounds cheesy, but when there’s a chance of a 70% increase in sales in 30 days, cheesy sounds good.
- Digital Rodeo Drive. Luxury meets convenience with Amazon’s announcement of Luxury Stores. While many Amazon shoppers may not be buying these high-end brands, it gives credibility to Amazon as an apparel resource.
- Wait, we can take clothes on a quick spin around the dressing room? Yup, with Prime Wardrobe. It’s a bit exclusive right now on both the buying and selling sides, but with positive feedback so far it’s likely the program will expand. Also, they come in a resealable box with a pre-printed return label so you can mail back the stuff you don’t want/didn’t fit because you have been busy saving small businesses with your take-out orders.
Listen, is Amazon’s apparel scene perfect yet? No, probably not. You have to walk before you can runway. But 31% of consumers say they will buy clothes on Amazon in the future, so it probably will be perfect soon enough. Make sure you’re prepared to strut your stuff at the biggest internet mall around.
