Amazon makes major move into fashion with first ad campaign for Find brand

The campaign is the first clear sign of Amazon’s ambitions in the fashion industry as it looks to disrupt another area of retail.

Amazon is launching its first ad campaign for its clothing brand Find as it looks to boost its fashion credentials and prove it can take on high street stalwarts such as John Lewis and Next.

The campaign will run in the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Spain across outdoor, digital and on Amazon’s own site. It aims to show the ecommerce giant has a “unique take” on current fashion trends and a “close eye on street styling”. The collection includes hero pieces such as a red, floral wrap dress and hot pink sock boots, as well as more timeless pieces such as a plaid trench coat.

Glen George, director for Find, says: “We are passionate about fashion and design for people who feel the same. We believe our customers have their own personal style and Find is about celebrating that.

“Our new campaign brings the playful and effortless ethos of find. to life, allowing our customers to explore and express their sense of self through their fashion choices.”

The campaign is the first major move by Amazon into the fashion market. It originally quietly launched Find back in April with a collection of fairly basic and cheap items, but is now trying to ramp up its style credentials.

While this latest collection is unlikely to unduly worry either high street stalwarts or online ecommerce players, it shows Amazon’s ambitions in the fashion space. Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos has previously said that he wants the company to generate $200bn in online sales, but to do that it needs to “learn how to sell clothes and food”.

It is already some way to its goal on food. It has launched Amazon Fresh and recently shocked the industry with its $13.7bn acquisition of Whole Foods.

The fact it is now turning its attention to clothing should have the industry worried. It has already invested in Europe’s biggest photography studio in Shoreditch in London to improve the quality of pictures on its website and launched Amazon Wardrobe, which lets users try on clothes before buying them.

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However, Glen Tooke, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, believes Amazon still has some way to go on the shopping experience for customers. Ecommerce businesses such as Asos have spent millions making it quick and easy for shoppers to find products they might want to buy, and this is an area where Amazon is lagging.

“Being part of an online ‘department store’ will benefit Find but too much choice can be stifling for consumers – a search for ‘black dress’ on Amazon, for example, still generates over 90,000 results. Amazon won’t want Find to get lost among the other brands and second-hand products on its website but at the same time the retailer can’t compromise existing relationships by undercutting the competition and overly prioritising its own wares,” he says.

“Find’s trend-led approach and reasonable prices should win it customers among fans of stores like H&M, but with some of its competitors able to take products from sketch to shop floor in a fortnight it will need to stay nimble if it wants to make a lasting impression.”

 

 

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