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Amazon Quietly Launched 7 Private Label Fashion Brands
Retail

Amazon Has Quietly Launched 7 Private Label Fashion Brands

February 25, 2016

Amazon Quietly Launched 7 Private Label Fashion Brands Clothes Accessories

A few months ago we took a look at the threat Amazon posed to traditional fashion retailers. While you might think of the online retail giant as your go-to place for electronics, books, and household items, Amazon has quickly become one of the top clothing and accessories merchants in the world. With a GMV (gross merchandise volume) of $16 Billion and realizing an average quarterly growth of 29%, it won’t be long before the site catches top with current #1, Macy’s, who has a GMV of $24 Billion.

One of the biggest hurdles Amazon is facing in growing their fashion business is gaps in selection. While one can barely keep count of the number of sweatpants being offered, if you are looking for a quality men’s suit the choices are much slimmer. To flesh out clothing categories and hopefully encourage other brands to sell on the site, Amazon will selectively utilize private labels.  

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by Doug Parker
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Google Glass Project Aura
Wearable Technology

Google Glass Becomes Part Of New ‘Project Aura’ Initiative

September 17, 2015

Google Glass Project Aura

Google Glass has had a tough life. Besides having limited usability, public sentiment was never great towards the device, and became downright seething after people began wearing them in public. Google realized the uphill battle it was facing and pulled the consumer version from the market. Regrouping, it placed Nest CEO (and former Apple designer) Tony Fadell in charge of developing a new version of the device. But when Google reorganized into Alphabet and spun Nest into its own division, there was a large question regarding the current status of Google Glass and whether Fadell would still be involved.

Thanks to Business Insider, things are beginning to clear up regarding Google Glass. It seems that Glass has been transformed into a new wearable initiative titled ‘Project Aura.’ The new group consists of Glass team members and a number of designers and engineers recently let go from Amazon’s secretive Lab126 hardware development group (perhaps answering our own questions regarding the future of Amazon’s wearable device that the company alluded to last year). ‘Project Aura’ will continue to be housed under the Google umbrella, along with the  

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by Doug Parker
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Amazon lab126 Wearable Restructuring Layoffs
Business

Amazon Shelves Products, And Maybe Wearable, Amid Layoffs

August 28, 2015

Amazon lab126 Wearable Restructuring Layoffs

Last year we covered news that Amazon was thinking of entering the wearables space. The future of that mysterious, unannounced product is now in question following layoffs and restructuring at Amazon’s Silicon Valley hardware development center, lab126. Despite the recent successes of Dash (the WiFi connected reorder button) and Echo (a connected speaker with virtual assistant), the complete failure of the Fire Phone hit the company hard. In Q3, 2014 Amazon took a $170 million charge on inventory and supplier commitments, disclosing that the company was sitting on $83 million of Fire Phone inventory. Largely in reaction to that massive failure, for the first time Amazon is laying off employees at lab126.

The layoff are part of a restructuring effort resulting in large number of projects being shelved. Some of the canceled projects have leaked to the press and include  

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by Doug Parker
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Jet.com website
Retail

Is Jet.com Serious Or Just Looking To Be Bought?

July 30, 2015

Jet.com website

Online retailer Jet.com recently launched to a tremendous amount of press. Some publications heralded it as the next great concept in online retail. But is it really? In case you haven’t yet heard of Jet.com, the site was founded by Marc Lore of Quidsi (Diapers.com / Soap.com) fame. The idea behind it is that you pay a $50 per year membership fee and that is the only place in the chain where the site makes money. The website claims it does not mark up any items. If this concept sounds familiar, then you likely have been a member of a warehouse store such as Costco or Sam’s Club. Those stores utilize membership fees so that they can change no greater than a 15% markup versus the 25 – 50% markup of their brick and mortars competitors. This sounded fantastic to us, so we decided to take a closer look.

We can all agree, the concept behind Jet.com is pretty amazing, but how does it actually play out. First let us take a look at the site.

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by Doug Parker
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Business

Is Amazon The Heir Apparent Of Apparel & Accessory Sales?

July 21, 2015

Amazon Number One Apparel Retailer

Amazon is no longer just the go-to source for books and electronics; according to analysts at Cowen, the online retail giant poised to become an important apparel destination. Amazon only began selling clothing in 2002 and, if the projections from Cowen are correct, it will soon be the #1 clothing retailer in the US. In order to reach number one, Amazon will have to pass Macy’s. The department store is currently the largest retailer of fashion in the country, with a GMV (gross merchandise volume) of $24 Billion this year. By contrast, Amazon’s current GMV is only $16 Billion. But the online company has averaged 29% growth in purchasers over the past over the past 6 quarters in the face of declines at its largest competitors. This level of growth leads Cowen to project that Amazon will surpass Macy’s by 2017. It is easy to understand why consumers are choosing Amazon more often. Convenience is a large factor, but so is selection; Macy’s offers 85,000 apparel items on their website compared to Amazon’s 343,000. For its part, the department store is trying to drive sales through innovation. Between iBeacons, same day delivery, mobile payments, and being able to search for clothes from a user-provided photo, the company is working hard to retain and grow its customer base.

We at Circuits and Cable Knit are curious to watch this and see if the projections play out. We often have discussions about whether the department store model is still viable. Being able to physically interact with a large, multi-brand inventory of clothing is important to a lot of people. Additionally, the tactile nature of browsing and being able to easily try things on  cannot be replicated. Unfortunately people are driven away by the experience; messy merchandise, apathetic staff, and dressing rooms as well cared for a gas station bathroom do not make a customer feel valued.

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by Doug Parker
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Wearable Technology

Amazon Explores Entering Wearable Device Market

September 29, 2014

Amazon Lab126 WearableAmazon is increasing the headcount at its top secret hardware development facility, Lab126, by at least 27% as it explores releasing wearable and connected home devices. According to Reuters, Amazon disclosed the information in a little-known government document. The personnel increase at the Lab126 devision, where the Kindle e-reader and Fire tablet were developed, is planned to take place over the next 5 years. Despite the lukewarm reception to the Amazon Fire phone, which recently saw a $200 price drop, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, continues to believe that connected hardware is key to the company’s long term success. He believes such products are necessary to help provide customers seamless access to Amazon’s merchandise and services. With the Fire phone taking 4 years to develop, it is unlikely we will be seeing any Amazon wearables in the immediate future, but it provides an interesting roadmap of what Lab126 feels are important technologies to explore. As of the end of 2013, the division had almost 3,000 full-time employees.

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by Doug Parker
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