Outdoor Insight

wear, Amazon's current policy only allows new products and professional sellers. The Marketplace's sales policy for Sports/Exercise & Fitness/Hunting Accessories/Team Sports/ Licensed-Fan Ship/Boating & Fishing/Game Room is less restrictive, allowing for new, certified refurbished, used and collectible. CPC Strategy says the vast majority of brand protection issues it witnesses on the Marketplace are related to unauthorized sellers of authentic products, not counterfeit, that are largely related to "leakage" in a brand's supply chain. Its advice to third-party sell- ers on the Marketplace: "Don't co-mingle inventory — and control your distribution." 3. The Trump Factor This past spring, the President created a task force, through an executive order, to "evalu- ate the operations and finances of the USPS" and provide findings and recommendations within four months. Depending on what is found, this action could result in higher costs to Amazon and its customers, or perhaps force the company to seek alternatives for package delivery. 4. The Online Soft Goods Destination Analysts project Amazon will achieve major growth from footwear, apparel and accessories over the next three-to-five years to potentially $85 billion worldwide by 2020. To the chagrin of traditional retail- ers, 69 percent of consumers purchased apparel from Amazon between April and October 2017, a year-over-year increase of 10 percent. Amazon is aiming to increase that percentage through the addition of its own stable of apparel brands and the addition of more well-known labels such as Nike, Under Armour and Hanesbrands, currently the three most popular on the site. The hub of Amazon's domestic apparel business sits in a 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse/fulfillment center in Jeffersonville, IN, that houses more than 200,000 pairs of shoes and has shipped more than 60 million orders in a single day. Shoppers in the 18-to-29-year-old set are the most interested in Amazon's burgeoning fashion business and are showing interest in seeing Amazon brick-and-mortar stores for apparel. An estimated 48 percent of apparel and footwear buyers on Amazon, according to a recent survey, expect to pay less than full price. 5. Prime Wardrobe This try-before-you-buy service, which allows Amazon shoppers to order and try on apparel without paying first, hasn't officially launched. But this expensive feature, undoubt- edly a tactic to increase more soft goods purchases, is already being extended to more Prime members. Choosing among designated Prime Wardrobe pieces, shoppers select three or more items that are then shipped to them free of charge. Following a seven-day period, unwanted items must be returned, but again at no cost to the consumer. Prime Wardrobe could pose issues and a real threat to other apparel retailers who fail to offer similar programs. Post-purchase solutions firm Navar discovered that 22 percent of apparel shoppers avoid making an online purchase without the ability to return the item to a store, so this solution might be Amazon's end-around. 6. Opportunity for Small, Mid-Size Apparel Brands CPC Strategy, citing a lack of brand loyalty among 80 percent of Amazon shoppers and the vertical's lack of depth in large brands, believes smaller and mid-size labels will "gain unprecedented market share on Amazon in 2019." More than 53 percent of shoppers are more willing to buy a brand they are unfa- miliar with on Amazon than any other store, according to the research house. 7. Sports and Outdoor Goods Hard goods, ranging from inflatables to air mattresses and tents, generated $6.5 billion in U.S. sales for Amazon in 2017, accounting for 15 percent year-over-year growth versus 20 percent in 2016, according to One Click Retail. The Utah research firm says the changing brick-and-mortar landscape, coupled with consumer buying trends, has prompted more hard goods companies to turn to expanding in-store sales from Amazon. Last year, Camping & Outdoor surpassed Exercise & Fitness as Amazon's largest hard goods segment, with estimated revenues of $1.05 billion. Air mattresses, with an estimated 22 percent growth on the website to $110 million, were the largest subcategory within Camping & Outdoor. 8. Sellers Beware! The dark side of Amazon is apparent, but rarely addressed publicly. Amazon critics allege problems with the platform center on the sale of fake products and excessive dis- counts on genuine merchandise that finds its way to unauthorized sellers on Amazon's market- place. Getting a fake product yanked from Amazon sometimes involves brands being forced to purchase the counterfeit products from a third-party seller to prove its lack of authenticity. Amazon has reportedly tight- ened its monitoring of third-party sellers. Last year, Nike trusted Amazon enough to begin test selling on the platform, a program that will report- edly deliver $300-$500 million in revenues to Nike this year. Today, some 16 months after Birkenstock began prohibiting third- party sellers of its products on Amazon, the brand has seen its business flourish without Amazon. Some believe potential partners should tread lightly when considering a new or expanded Amazon partnership. "Every unit of your brand that Amazon sells, they now own the data on that consumer," points out one executive. "I think they eventually will use that data to market directly to them." 9. Walmart Versus Amazon Both players bring different strengths to the table and incredible reach with consumers. Walmart, which spent more than $4 billion on various acquisitions last year, most notably on Jet.com, wants a more profitable e-commerce business and isn't happy about Amazon's strong lure with today's younger consumers. While its U.S. sales are 38 percent bigger than Amazon and its physical door count is more than 90 percent larger, the e-commerce order frequency by customers of Walmart trailed Amazon Prime members by 27 to three in 2017. — Bob McGee *ULY s /UTDOOR )NSIGHT s OUTDOORINSIGHTMAGCOM Last year, Nike trusted Amazon enough to begin test selling on the platform, a program that will reportedly deliver $300- $500 million in revenues to Nike this year.

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