How Amazon Fashion Plans To Become A Major Player

As Amazon Fashion partners with Nicola Formichetti and his Nicopanda show to not only stage the LFW extravaganza at its impressive London HQ, but to facilitate a see-now, buy-now capsule collection that will be available straight after, Ellie Pithers caught up with its vice president, Susan Saideman, to dig deep into the e-commerce giant's big fashion plan.

When it comes to selling fashion online, what are the key elements for success?

"I believe that it’s simply to give customers exactly what they are looking for. At Amazon Fashion, we are always exploring ways to do just that by offering the best and broadest choice, at the right price and with a convenient shopping experience. We also look for ways to offer our customers something that is unique to us that they can’t get anywhere else, for example our Nicopanda exclusive capsule collection."

Why did you decide to collaborate with Nicopanda selling the capsule and sponsoring the show?

"We are always trying to find something new and different for customers of all ages, something exciting and exclusive that will complement or add to the choice we already have, and we felt that this was a great fit right now. We look forward to Fashion Week season after season and we are pleased to be part of this exciting and important platform for designers. Sponsoring this show and hosting it at our East London studio, being a patron of the BFC and sponsoring India and Tokyo Fashion Weeks means that we can support the fashion industry and work with some truly creative and innovative organisations."

Do you think this is something that will strengthen the fashion credentials of Amazon and how do you decide on who to collaborate with?

"We hope that customers will be excited by this product and we hope that new customers will discover what Amazon Fashion has to offer through this partnership. Nicola is a fan of Amazon and our joint obsession with digital and innovation made this collaboration feel very natural. We choose partnerships based on shared values but mainly on how much we think our customers will love the additional choice – in this case we think Nicopanda’s popular street-style aesthetic will resonate well and delight Amazon Fashion consumers across Europe."

How did you come across Nicola’s work?

"We knew of Nicola through his high-profile work as a stylist, designer and artistic director, but for this project he initially approached to Amazon with some great ideas on how we could work together. We eventually landed on the idea of an exclusive collection with Prime Now delivery straight off the runway. As an innovator, one of the things that excited Nicola most about the partnership was Prime Now – using Amazon’s high-end technology to enable vast selection and lightning fast shipping speeds for customers.

How closely did Amazon work with Nicola to advise him on the pieces that will be immediately available on the runway?

"He had a really clear idea in his mind of what this collection should look like, an easy-to-wear, unisex capsule with his signature motif and colours, all of which we were really excited about. We worked collaboratively on what combination of pieces would resonate well with our customer and give them a strong slice of Nicopanda's style. We are really pleased with the outcome and can’t wait to see how our customers, new and existing, respond to the collection."

You’ve had an amazing reaction to your in-house fashion label Find. Did you expect the response from the press to be so positive?

"We are pleased with the response to Find, from both the media and customers. It is still very early days and we are learning from all our customer feedback which we keep a close eye on, on a daily basis - including the valuable comments that we get from customer reviews - to make sure that we get it right for this season and in the future. Our private brands, Iris & Lilly and Find, are important as they give customers another great reason to shop for fashion with us."

An easy returns process seems to be highly prized by customers and the secret to e-commerce success. 

How much importance does Amazon place on that process?

"We aim to offer the most convenient service to our customers and easy and quick returns is part of this. Fashion items sold by Amazon are eligible for free delivery and free returns and we also offer a number of ways for our customers to return items, including collection, drop off and Amazon Lockers."

Who do you see as your main competitors in the e-commerce arena?

"At Amazon, we obsess about our customers, who are at the heart of every decision we make. There are many brands and businesses that I admire, but every decision we make at Amazon Fashion is based on what we think will most benefit our consumer. The online market segment is becoming more and more competitive and that’s great for consumers, the result is higher standards and a better all-round shopping experience."

Where is Amazon putting most of its fashion spend – high-end, mid-range, or your own brand?

"We will invest in all areas that deliver fashionable choice, value and convenience to our customers. Thousands of well-loved fashion brands are selling their products at Amazon and they love that they can reach millions on new customers sometimes in brand new countries – in 2016 we added more than 350 new fashion brands to our European offering including Vanessa Bruno, Filippa K, Cacharel and Paul & Joe, as well as our private brands, which were launched at the start of 2017. In fact, just this week, we have also announced that we have added Swarovski to our jewellery portfolio."

Where have you seen the most interest globally?

"We wouldn’t break out that information in that way, but what I can tell you is that in Europe, fashion is one of the fastest growing categories at Amazon and to give you an insight into consumer interest in fashion at Amazon, in Q4 of 2016 we sold 60 million items of fashion from our European websites. In Q2 of 2015 this figure was 30 million items."

Will you be addressing key areas such as search on your website - I just searched for "black dress" and got 229,029 results? Do you agree that some customers could find this overwhelming?

"We are aware that when you have such a vast selection, the challenge is to be able to curate those products for the customer and make the shopping experience as easy and convenient as possible, and we are addressing this challenge. We have our own fashion homepage where we regularly update our content to showcase key seasonal brands, products and offers. We work with influencers and stylists to help create exciting and inspiring content for our customers to help them with their purchase decisions. We also like to surprise and delight customers with new and exclusive collections, collaborating with brands to create these, for example our Nicopanda collection launching this weekend. But we still have a lot of work to do, what’s good enough for today isn’t good enough for tomorrow so at Amazon we are always challenging ourselves to do better for our customer."

How do you want to go about changing people’s perceptions of Amazon as a fashion destination?

"Selection is at the heart of the brand, so letting customers know what we have to offer and always surprising them is key. We are always looking for ways to improve the customer experience so that we can become a favourite destination for fashion across Europe, for example, we are seeing positive responses to new images that we are creating in our studios in Hoxton. We also believe that delivery services like Prime and Prime Now, which the Nicopanda exclusive collection is available through, will be particularly exciting for fashion customers as it offers a two-hour delivery service direct to your door from the catwalk, what’s not to love about that?"