Amazon.com Is A Habit

Maria Renz - VP MyHabit.com (Center)

As Amazon.com Inc. continues its astronomical growth, some pundits predict that it could surpass Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s revenues one day — but wonder how much of its future revolves around fashion. Can it be as disruptive to the fashion world as it has been to the world of books, music, DVDs and other products?

It is all another major sign the dot-com giant wants to embrace designers, become a bigger player in fashion and shed its reputation as the “Wal-Mart of the Web.”

According to sources, Amazon’s fledgling members-only flash-sale Web site, called MyHabit, may be on the verge of revealing some major brand and designer partnerships. MyHabit, celebrating a year in business this month, is still staffing up, and “sitelets” are believed to be on Amazon’s agenda. “With Amazon, who knows? Jeff Bezos strikes exclusive deals in other categories all the time,” said Lori Schafer, author and executive adviser of retail at the SAS Institute. “I wouldn’t put it past Amazon to do it with a few designers and see what happens.”

In February, MyHabit launched a designer tab alongside the others for the women’s, men’s, children’s and home categories. Thakoon, Valentino, Costume National, Balmain and Alejandro Ingelmo participated at up to 60 percent off, consistent with the other MyHabit sales. The Web site remains weighted to contemporary brands, rather than designer. Back in September, Julie Gilhart, former fashion director at Barneys New York, joined Amazon’s fashion group as a consultant to the Amazon Clothing Store, Endless and MyHabit sites. Amazon also owns Zappos and Shopbop, and sells clothing and accessories on the main Amazon site.

Another sign could come later this year, when the first Amazon brick-and-mortar store opens in Seattle, where the company is based. It will showcase technology, like Amazon’s own Kindle readers and Fire tablets, though there’s the possibility of testing other categories, like fashion.

Officials from MyHabit were unavailable for comment.

It’s not like Amazon is just waking up to the potential of apparel. Several years ago, Bezos met with Burt Tansky, former ceo of the Neiman Marcus Group, in the spirit of partnering. Bezos wanted to create a “black label” Web site for luxury fashion and wanted Bergdorf Goodman as the anchor. “There was some real dialogue on that,” said a source who was close to the situation. Nothing ever came out of the conversations, which some read as an indication of Amazon’s challenge —transcending its image as a site for everything under the sun and becoming a strong fashion destination.

Source: WWD