For select consumer product categories, Amazon, while imposing, isn’t the kind of category dominator that makes or breaks a brand’s e-commerce fortunes by themselves. Fashion is one such category. Despite 27.4 percent of U.S. apparel being purchased online in 2017, an array of niche retailers (e.g., The Children’s Place) and D2C companies (e.g., MeUndies) are collectively driving a large share of this category’s online sales. Amazon is, of course, angling to increase its share. Last year, the retailer invested heavily in tweaking and expanding its Prime Wardrobe service, while also broadening its array of in-house clothing brands, among other initiatives.
