Online retailers gear up for Christmas

Christmas, according to the retail press, will this year be an eshopping extravaganza for online retailers, with consumers expected to spend a record £9bn buying products over the Internet. Shopping from the comforts of one's own home is a major benefit for those with busy lifestyles, who don't have the time or inclination to trawl the high street for gifts. However, there are increased inefficiencies from buying online at this time of year and many online retailers will struggle to cope with increased sales volume. It is every shopper's nightmare to end up in a situation where gifts don't arrive in time or come damaged. In the peak consumer season, retailers will need to secure supply chains, fulfilment centres and workforce to meet the demand.

Amazon, reportedly, has been anticipating the holiday rush, planning to treble its workforce in size, ready to handle their peak pre-Christmas volumes. Workforce apart, this the one time of year when retailers rely heavily upon both their existing supply chain software and provider to enforce delivery and service promises. Online retailers must understand that eshoppers have the same needs as retail shoppers. Just because customers are not in fact face-to-face contact with a salesman during the transaction, does not mean they are any less demanding or deserving of the same standards and service care.

www.amazon.co.uk
19 November 2006

Profits fall at Amazon

Amazon.com shares dropped as much as 18 per cent Wednesday after the on-line retail pioneer posted sharply lower second-quarter profit and said it would boost spending in the second-half, crimping its profitability. The stock tumbled to as low as $27.58 (£15.2) on concern about the company’s lower profit margins. Before the latest decline, Amazon.com’s stock had fallen about 28 per cent this year.

31 July 2006

Amazon buys Shopbop

Internet retail giant Amazon announced its takeover of online fashion retailer Shopbop earlier this week. This is its first acquisition of another US online retailer since the internet boom ended. Shopbop is a highly successful retail site that offers the hottest brands in fashion. The site was launched in 2000 by chief executive Bob Lamey and Martha Graettinger, the owner of fashion boutique Bop in Madison , Wisconsin .

The site has developed into a major retail destination for online shoppers, selling a large amount of desirable brands such as Catherine Malandrino, Citizens of Humanity and Juicy Couture. The site also offers an online purchase guide for jeans and a regularly updated ‘look book', which helps the customers choose various outfits. Shopbop is believed to have sales of $20 million to $30 million per year, Forrester Research retail analyst Sucharita Mulpuru told the FT. According to Mulpuru, online fashion sales are currently “a large slice of online sales in the fashion industry right now”.

Amazon has said that Shopbop will continue to operate as a separate entity and did not disclose the price it paid for the retailer. The internet retailer last purchased rival sites at the height of the internet boom. It invested large amounts in several sites including Pets.com and living.com, but to little avail. Since then Amazon has concentrated on developing its online service and distribution operations with deals such as the acquisition in 2004 of Chinese online retailer Joyo.com. In 2005 the company also purchased on-demand printer Booksurge. It also acquired mobipocket, a French e-book software developer.

“Amazon has definitely been trying to get into fashion for a long time, and they've struggled because they're perceived by many of the brands as being too much of a mass channel,” Mulpuru told the FT. Until now, Amazon has partaken in online fashion sales through deals with third parties. Retailers like department stores Nordstrom and Macy's and clothing chain Urban Outfitters sell their products via Amazon and share the revenues with the online retailer. However, conventional retailers like Nordstrom and Macy's are increasingly working on establishing their own online retail capabilities by developing their own websites. This renders Amazon's role in their partnership redundant.

www.amazon.com
www.shopbop.com
28 February 2006

Amazon report record Christmas sales

Amazon, the online retailer, had a jubilant Christmas, with UK sales recorded at delivering up to 480,000 gifts a day in the run-up to the festive weekend. On its busiest day, Amazon.co.uk shipped more than 256 tonnes of goods, with a Royal Mail truck leaving one of its three distribution centres every 15 minutes. December 12 proved to be the busiest day for orders across the company's worldwide business, with customers buying a total of 3.6m items - 41 items every second. More than 108m orders were placed globally during the whole of the holiday season.

The company has delivered gifts and products free of charge when customers spent at least £15 on its UK website - down from £19 last year - in a bid to combat tough competition among retailers. In October, the group warned that sales growth across its global operations in the final quarter of this year could be as low as 13% - well below the 31% recorded in the same period of last year. Amazon.co.uk, which began life as Bookpages in 1996 and was acquired by Amazon.com in early 1998, is unlikely to be the only online retailer to report a bumper Christmas.

In the run-up to the festive season, IMRG, a body representing retail sites, reported a 50% year on year rise in sales in the 12 months to November 2005. UK internet sales reached a record £2bn during the month, while high-street sales for the same period grew by only 0.9%.

Source: Guardian Unlimited
29 December 2005

Amazon Sees Profits Dip With Free Shipping

Online retail giant Amazon has seen first quarter profits dip as continued investment in free shipping was compounded by a tax-related charge. For the three months to March 31, Amazon's net income was $78m, compared to $111m in the first quarter of 2004. As well as a $56m tax charge, Amazon said it's shipping loss was $55m, an increase of 29 per cent on a loss of $43m a year ago.

The Amazon Prime membership program, launched in February, allows US customers unlimited free shipping for a flat fee of $79 per year. Amazon sees its free shipping offers as essential to retaining long-term customer loyalty, despite some analysts' concerns about the cost.

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, said: "We're seeing especially heavy use of Amazon Prime in electronics, tools, kitchen, and health & personal care. For $79 a year, Amazon Prime members get 'all-you-can-eat' free express shipping. Getting your items right away changes the way you use and think about Amazon.com."

Net sales increased 24 per cent to $1.9bn in the quarter. North American sales through the US and Canadian sites were $1.03bn, up 21 per cent, while international segment sales, representing the UK, German, French, Japanese and Chinese sites, were $875m up 28 per cent. Across the year to the end of the quarter international accounted for 45 per cent of Amazon's worldwide sales.

www.amazon.com
28 April 2005

Amazon reports rise in shares post Christmas

Christmas was profitable for Amazon.com this year, and shares, according to Reuters, rose nearly 9% after the online retailer said it had recorded its best holiday season ever. Spokesman Craig Berman said Monday sales for its 10th holiday season were better than any previous year, but he declined to give specific figures.
Seattle-based Amazon also said it had set a single-day record in which 2.8 million units - or 32 items per second - were ordered. But Berman declined to say what day during the holiday season that was, or whether that also translated into a record day of sales.

www.amazon.com
28 December 2004

Amazon Online Department Store

Amazon's transformation from an internet book retailer to an online department store has continued with the launch of a jewellery section on its US website.

The online retail giant pledged to undercut other retailers by swapping margins for volume sales. As well as buying off-the-peg designs, customers will be able to create their own diamond ring by selecting the shape, size, setting, and quality of the band and stone.

www.amazon.com
28 April 2004

Amazon.co.uk signs up Joystick Junkies

Joystick Junkies, the video games lifestyle event and fashion label is proud to announce that Amazon.co.uk has signed up the brand's range of stylish video games inspired clothing. The full range of clothing is being featured in Amazon.co.uk's PC & Video Games store.

Greg Hart, Amazon.co.uk's Director of Media Products commented, "Amazon.co.uk aims to be the place you can find and discover anything you want to buy on-line - we sell a vast range of both new and used games, consoles and accessories, across current and retro platforms, and are pleased to introduce Joystick Junkies t-shirts to further expand the range of gaming items available".

"This is a really great opportunity for us," commented Chris Birch of Joystick Junkies, "We're really excited to have a chance to reach such a massive audience. It shows that major retailers are starting to see the value of adding Joystick Junkies clothing to their range of products."
For further information on Joystick Junkies see www.joystickjunkies.com or contact Chris Birch or Andrew MacDougall on 020 8960 8606

Bankrupt Haburi continues operations under Freshtex

Online outlet store Haburi.com has filed for bankruptcy and has sold its Internet domain and trademark rights to German textile services company Freshtex. "The main reason lies within the increasing problems with fraud - especially the charge backs customers made," explains Mark Andersen, CRM manager with the Danish company. "This made it almost impossible for Haburi to continue its operations." Freshtex will continue Haburi's operations in a slimmer organisation. On March 17th a new shop will open under the old Haburi name. Andersen added that key operations for the new shop are located in Germany, where Freshtex main offices are. At Haburi's headquarter in Copenhagen it is "business as usual," he says, "here we will be concentrating on marketing and sourcing."

Andersen is confident about the takeover and continuance under Freshtex. "With a strong industrial backer like Freshtex, Haburi is in excellent hands and will be able to continue operations. For the new shop we will use a new electronic system, which ensures that financial fraud will not be possible in the future." Andersen would not reveal terms or financial details about the takeover. He did communicate Haburi's turnover for 2002 that amounted to 50 million crowns (4,8 million pounds). In the past five years over 238 million crowns (22,8 million pounds) has been invested in the company.

Haburi.com was founded in 1999 and filed for bankruptcy on March 3trd. The Danish internet company sold last-season collections of popular designer labels at low prices. The company employed 29 people of whom 20 now have lost their jobs. Freshtex is a textile services company that was founded as a dry-cleaning business in 1954. The German company is part of the international Alt-Group, which has grown into an organisation with 3000 employees worldwide.
<Esmerij van Loon>

March 13, 2002

Hanover Direct Internet sales climb

Strong growth in Internet sales for Hanover Direct has assured the company's addition of two brands to the Amazon.com apparel and accessories store. Net sales including postage and handling through the Internet improved to USD 87.3 million, an increase of USD 20.4 million or 30.4% over Internet sales in the prior fiscal year. "We are very pleased to see the tremendous growth of our Internet sales as a strong complement to the restructuring of our catalog sales," said Thomas C. Shull, Hanover Direct's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Internet sales for Hanover Direct have now reached 20.3% of Brand Sales.

Hanover Direct announced the expansion of its brand offerings with Amazon.com. Gump's Jewelry and Company Kids Apparel will join Silhouettes, International Male, and Undergear within Amazon.com's Apparel & Accessories store in the first quarter of 2003. "We are pleased to include apparel and jewelry merchandise from these brands," said Shull. "Since launch in early-November, sales through Amazon.com's Apparel & Accessories site accounted for approximately 12% of our internet sales for the listed brands. We are pleased with that start and look forward to continuing our internet growth, in part, through our participation with Amazon.com."

January 31, 2003
www.amazon.co.uk

Amazon celebrates second profit

The e-tailing giant Amazon.com has reported its second ever-quarterly net profit. Outside the US, the company's international arm, which includes the UK site, reported its first ever-quarterly operating profit. Full of confidence, the company predicted that its overall sales would grow by fifteen per cent this year, which would translate into 2003 revenues of at least 4.5 billion USD.

Amazon.com sells not only books, toys and electronics, but also has an enormous collection of clothing and accessories. At Amazon.com you can buy clothes from brands such as Adidas, Ralph Lauren and Levi's.

In the US, orders over 25 USD will have free shipping and in the UK this goes for orders over GBP 39. Previously, the free shipping offer, which has been credited with boosting sales, was promoted as a short-term measure. But since the results for Christmas were so stunning, Amazon.com has decided to make it permanent.

www.amazon.co.uk
www.amazon.com

January 25, 2002

Amazon apparel site online

Amazon.com switched on its widely anticipated apparel department yesterday, announcing it in an e-mail message to many of its customers. The site included clothing and footwear from 400 retailers and manufacturers including Gap, Nordstrom, Eddie Bauer, Foot Locker, Guess and Phillips-Van Heusen. The apparel department is available through the Internet site, www.amazon.com/ruby.All participating companies are declining comment.
Apparel, which was slow to sell online at first, is now one of the biggest categories in online shopping in the United States, driven largely by the traditional catalog retailers.

Yesterday, Amazon's apparel site was filled with technical problems. Many products lacked photographs. Other products, which were listed as available for immediate shipping, could not be ordered. Some bras were listed in the men's section. Contrary to earlier speculation all shopping in Amazon's apparel section occurs on its site, and customers complete purchases using the addresses and credit card information they have on file with Amazon. It was first believed Amazon would mainly generate visitors to the manufacturers sites.

November 2, 2002
www.amazon.com