Seattle(USA), 13/08/23: Amazon is planning to decrease the number of its in-house brands on its marketplace in order to minimise expenses and escape antitrust scrutiny.
According to The Verge, the retail behemoth intends to discontinue 27 of its 30 private-label clothing brands.
Over the years, Amazon has developed hundreds of private-label brands in a range of areas, the majority of which operate independently of Amazon, such as Solimo, Wag, and Mama Bear. With this cut, Amazon will only offer three in-house clothing brands: Amazon Essentials, Amazon Collection, and Amazon Aware.
Matt Taddy, vice president of Amazon Private Brands stated, “We always make decisions based on what our customers want, and we’ve learned that customers seek out our biggest brands — like Amazon Basics and Amazon Essentials — for great value with high-quality products at great price points.”
In addition, some private-label furniture companies, such as Rivet and Stone & Beam, are also being phased out. Amazon will continue to sell products from the now-discontinued brands until supplies run out, according to the article.
As of 2020, the IT giant sold 2,43,000 products under 45 different private-label labels. According to the article, Amazon’s move to streamline its private label business coincides with the potential of a US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) antitrust case.
Meanwhile, Amazon reported good financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, with net sales growing 11% to $134.4 billion and net income at $6.7 billion, compared to a net loss of $2 billion in the same time last year.
Its AWS cloud arm’s sales grew 12% year on year to $22.1 billion. The AWS segment’s operating income was $5.4 billion, compared to $5.7 billion in the second quarter of 2022.
