Brands represented include Rick Owens, Marni, Balmain, Versace, as well as Rag & Bone and Adidas Special Collections.
Internet giant Amazon Since autumn 2019, he has been running an online store, VRSNL (pronounced: "versional"), which specializes in the sale of luxury fashion brands. The site was launched back in September, without any advertising or marketing support. The platform is operated by Amazon-controlled Zappas.
Unlike many other online stores that sell mainly clothes and shoes of luxury brands of the first magnitude, VRSNL presents a rather complex mix of styles and trends. Luxury brands, contemporary fashion designers and streetwear brands coexist in the online platform's portfolio. Brands featured in the online store include Rick Owens, Marni, Balmain, Versace, as well as Bottega Veneta, Jimmy Choo, Rag & Bone and Adidas Special Collections.
“Style driven by personality and a do-it-yourself approach. It is based on the American contribution to the global style - a combination of expensive and cheap, street and luxurious. This is a remix about a modern take on fashion where everything is real and the old rules don't apply. It's how we dress. For real life... It's about finding the things you love," is how the authors of the project describe the concept of the store.
In fact, Amazon has had its eye on the designer fashion market for a long time, but the mainstream marketplace model with a simple design and many third-party sellers prevents the internet giant from building partnerships with high-end brands.
To date, Amazon has not publicly acknowledged ownership of the VRSNL site and has not announced any projects in the luxury fashion retail space. However, the digital excellence built into the online store can be attractive to brands that want to get to know their customers and their purchases better. VRSNL takes advantage of Amazon's ability to provide customers in the US with free 2-day shipping to any location and 1-day express shipping for $15. For all its orders, the online store uses packaging from responsible sources.
To date, none of LVMH brands not yet available on the VRSNL platform. But another giant in the luxury goods industry, the Kering Group, apparently has a different stance on working with Amazon. Customers of the new online store already have the opportunity to buy items from the collections Alexander McQueen, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta и Gucci. Market participants believe that VRSNL is not a short-term project, but a platform with great promise, on which Amazon has high hopes. In the future, when global brands feel the impact of selling their products on VRSNL amid an ever-increasing audience reach, Amazon may confirm its direct ownership of the site.
