Amazon Australia: Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Levi's most popular fashion brands

By

Benjamin Fitzgerald

Published
Dec 5, 2018

After launching in Australia one year ago this month, Amazon on Wednesday published details surrounding local shopper preferences in the country.

According to the U.S. online giant, toys and video games, wellness, fashion and beauty goods, as well as pet supplies were found to be the bestselling items on Amazon Australia since its December 2017 launch.

U.S. icons Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Levi's proved to be the most popular fashion brands, supplementing the surge in sales for other 90s nostalgia brands such as Danish toymaker Lego and Nintendo's Super Mario.

Since launching late last year ahead of the busy Christmas period, Amazon Australia has grown to sell 100 million products across 29 categories, and taken on some 10,000 local sellers who use Amazon Australia to reach local shoppers online.

"It’s been a big year and we’re only getting started," Amazon Australia country manager, Rocco Braeuniger, said in a statement.

However, the U.S. giant's debut downunder has not been without controversy. When it first arrived last December, bargain-savvy shoppers were not impressed by the lack of 'savings' Amazon offered to Australian consumers ahead of Christmas, with many saying the marketplace failed to offer much of a difference in terms of competitive pricing. Some products, including furniture and electronics, were even priced as more expensive than competing retailers at the time.

Another set back was a lack of stock diversity, hurt by the announcement that Amazon's U.S. site would be geo-blocked in Australia over laws that forced it to collect GST, meaning a much more extensive international site offerings would not be available to buy in Australia. 

Amazon remedied the issue by opening Amazon's Global Store in May, giving Australian online shoppers access to about 20 million goods from Amazon U.S.

More positive still, Amazon Australia over the last year managed to implement its Fulfilment by Amazon program, its Prime Membership offering and successfully operated its first Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales event in Australia without major glitches.

In defence of taking business from local retailers, Amazon also launched its Amazon Fashion 2018 Local Brand Award in November to help promote retail in the nation.