E-commerce giants compete in the fashion market! Amazon has made significant progress, while Walmart has weak growth

According to PYMNTS, Amazon and Walmart, two e-commerce giants, are continuing to compete in the fashion market. Amazon has made remarkable achievements, with its market share soaring. On the other hand, Walmart, despite occupying a large market share, has weak growth and has been crushed by Amazon all the way.

The report pointed out that when Amazon first entered the fashion e-commerce market five years ago, it was met with many doubts. So far, although Amazon is still not the preferred platform for most consumers to buy fashion products, its popularity and market share have been raised to a higher level.

Last week, Amazon unveiled its third annual celebrity fashion show with Rihanna's Savage X Fenty lingerie brand. The show, opened by model Cindy Crawford and featuring models and performers including Ricky Martin, Gigi Hadid and Troye Sivan, was available exclusively on Prime Video. While watching the show, viewers could purchase items directly from links in the video.

According to PYMNTS data, Amazon's share of the entire apparel and accessories market in 2020 was close to 16%, up from 9.5% in 2019 and 7% in 2018. Looking at the e-commerce market alone, Amazon accounted for 45% of apparel and accessories sales, up from about 41% in 2019.

To be sure, some of that growth may come from an increase in e-commerce shopping during the pandemic, but Amazon has also made strategic moves over the past few years. For example, in 2017, Amazon launched Prime Wardrobe, a try-on service that allows buyers to order shoes, clothing, and accessories without paying upfront.

This month also marks the one-year anniversary of the launch of Amazon’s luxury store, which allows designers to sell goods in a “store-within-a-store” format, with each brand independently selecting inventory and pricing. In a recent tracking survey, global online luxury purchases grew 39% in April and May 2020, and online retail sales are expected to account for 25% of total luxury purchases by 2025, up from 10% in 2019.

As Amazon has made significant gains in the fashion space, its retail rival Walmart has not had the same luck. Since 2016, Walmart's share of the apparel and accessories market has increased by only 4 percentage points, less than half of Amazon's 11-plus percentage points.

Walmart is catching up, though. In March, it hired designer Brandon Maxwell as creative director for two of its in-house brands, and this summer it signed a deal to bring Justice-branded children's clothing and accessories to about half of its U.S. stores and websites.

Editor ✎ Xiao Zhu/

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