Walmart and Amazon face fashion

Walmart launches its fashion business to compete with Amazon.

"We are looking at fashion," said Denise Incandela, head of online fashion at Walmart, during a presentation at the WWD Digital Forum in New York on Wednesday.

To do this, the company has improved the buying experience on its websites, expanded its fashion assortment and established a partnership with new brands.

"Although we know we are providing good customer service for consumables, we have not had this offer on the fashion side, and our customers are asking for it," said Incandela.

Incandela, who has more than 20 years of experience in luxury business at Saks Fifth Avenue and Ralph Lauren, was hired by Walmart to develop her fashion business in 2017.

The big boost in the apparel industry comes as its biggest competitor online, Amazon, is making progress in this area. While Walmart was the leading US clothing retailer in 2017, analysts expect it to be dismantled by Amazon by the end of 2018.

With two rivals almost neck-to-neck in terms of market share – Walmart had 8.7% of the market in 2017, compared to 7.9% for Amazon – it is likely that Walmart is doing everything to protect its leading position.

The new look of Walmart

Walmart.com and Jet.com have undergone a complete overhaul in the last six months. Walmart now offers a sleek new design and more elegant images that feature people rather than just products.

"We focused on a great shopping experience, because if the dress costs $ 15 at Walmart or $ 200 at Jet or $ 2,000 at Saks, it should be beautiful," said Incandela.

"We have not necessarily had a great shopping experience in the past."

Incandela said that hairdressing tips are one of the key missing elements of buying cheap clothing online. They are usually reserved for the luxury trade. Offering fashion tips using better images and suggestions is one of the key changes at Walmart.com.

The sleek design is also more appealing to the brands, giving Walmart an essential way to win exclusive Amazon partnerships.

Incandela said that 1.1000 new brands have been launched on Jet since April. Walmart bought Jet for $ 3.3 billion in 2016 and focused on high-income urban buyers. Nike will join his team in October.

Walmart itself has expanded its range and reached a new customer base with its premium clothing platform via a new partnership with Lord & Taylor. Last month he also announced that he would launch an exclusive and affordable clothing collection with Ellen DeGeneres.

Amazon, on the other hand, doubles its apparel production by accelerating the growth of its private labels; expand Premium Wardrobe, a service to try before you buy; and using new brands, including Nike, Calvin Klein and, more recently, J.Crew.