Amazon.com Inc. will begin selling Nike shoes directly through a brand-registry program designed to keep counterfeit goods off the site, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The approach lets Nike Inc. take greater control over how its products are sold, helping ensure that knockoff shoes aren’t offered by third parties on the e-commerce marketplace, said the person, who asked not to be named because the arrangement isn’t yet public.
Shoes are popular products for counterfeiters, and Nike’s global brand is an especially alluring target. That’s put pressure on the athletic-apparel giant to police online sales more aggressively.
Lindsay Drucker Mann, an analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said earlier that Nike may be close to forging a closer relationship with Amazon. Currently, Nike is available on Amazon’s Zappos site, but not directly through the parent company.
Sounds like a catch for Amazon, and a concession for Nike. But in the long run I'd have to imagine it could be beneficial for both. Also makes me wonder what Amazon's long-term plans are for Zappos. Maybe just a component collapsed into the larger Amazon brand some time down the line? Interesting story IMO.
Submitted June 21, 2017 at 03:26PM by semipalmated_plover http://ift.tt/2rDtnuD
