This is an episode of the Glossy Fashion Podcast, which features candid conversations about how today’s trends are shaping the future of the fashion industry. More from the series →
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On the Glossy Podcast, senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi and editor-in-chief Jill Manoff break down some of the biggest fashion industry news of the week.
This week, we’re putting the focus on Amazon’s Prime Day event, along with the counter-programming from some of its biggest rivals like Walmart. Early data indicates that people may have shopped less this Prime Day, and when they are shopping, two-thirds of their purchases are under $20.
We also talk about Meta’s $3.5 billion investment in the eyewear company EssilorLuxottica. Meta had a surprise hit with its smart glasses, produced by one of EssilorLuxottica’s brands, Ray-Ban, and the investment is likely a precursor to more smart glasses being produced in the future.
Lastly, we delve into why streetwear designer Heron Preston purchased the rights to his brand back from the Italian luxury group New Guards Group. Preston is one of several designers who have taken control of their brand back from New Guards after the company filed for bankruptcy late last year. We discuss not only the state of New Guards, but also the state of streetwear as a whole.
And later in the episode, Jill sits down with Laura Meyer, founder and CEO of Envision Horizons, an agency that helps brands strategize for selling on Amazon and other marketplaces.
Below are some highlights from their conversation, lightly edited for clarity.
On this year’s Prime Day event
“Our clients still saw — if we remove the outliers — at least a 4x [lift] in average daily sales compared to June on the first day of Prime Day. If you include our outliers — because we do have some clients that just absolutely killed it — then that brings our total average up to a 7.2x daily average. So from our perspective, things are sitting quite well.
But it is going to be interesting to see how it paces out across the four days. Because one hypothesis is that the first two days are really going to be the biggest, because consumer habits are used to the two-day events — things may start to slow down the second two days. But what I thought was really interesting this year was that Amazon did a four-day event, but Walmart snuck in there with a six-day event, which actually runs through the weekend. So if you do forget those Prime Day deal purchases in the first four days, it’ll be interesting to see if people then say, ‘Oh, wait, but I can still shop it on Walmart.’”
On fashion’s place on Amazon
“Prime Day is a very interesting one for fashion because one of the hardest things for the fashion category, in general, on Amazon is discoverability. One of the reasons why higher-end fashion brands or even mid-priced fashion brands struggle with Amazon as a partner is because Amazon is a marketplace. And with a marketplace, really anyone with a legitimate business can sell.
If you’re a fashion brand and you’re selling into Nordstrom, you know that the other brands selling alongside you are reputable, quality brands. On Amazon, there are manufacturers, many of which are based in China, who sell directly on Amazon. They’re selling at low price points, and dupe culture is alive and well.
A lot of times, when you see these Amazon influencers and fashion influencers driving traffic to Amazon, it’s often to the Amazon dupes versus the real thing.”
Fashion’s Amazon strategy
“Where I think a lot of fashion brands miss on Amazon is that they don’t merchandise Amazon correctly. Evergreen styles, as boring as they are, work really well on Amazon. Because when you think about how the Amazon algorithm works, it’s not like Nordstrom or Saks or even Revolve, where they curate their feed based on newness.
Amazon’s algorithm actually is the opposite. It is rewarding listings that sell the most units. And the listings that sell the most units, they have legacy, they have reviews, they have momentum.
And the psyche on Amazon is super interesting, because if you see a really attractive sundress, are you more inclined to buy the dress with 2,000 reviews or two reviews? Even if that 2,000 reviewed listing has maybe been there for five years, [you’ll pick that].”
