Shoppers made Amazon their destination for athleisure, baby clothing and on-trend workwear-meets-streetwear apparel from Carhartt, which sold more than one million items through the e-commerce juggernaut in yet another record-breaking season for the retailer set to capture nearly half of online retail sales by the close of 2019.
Strong sales for Carhartt, which produces much of its apparel and footwear in the U.S. and employs more than 2,000 domestic workers, signals staying power for workwear’s place in the fashion scene for the foreseeable future, as well a growing interest in products that support American manufacturing amid President Trump’s contentious trade war with China.
Shoppers purchasing through the try-before-you-buy Prime Wardrobe service favored major national brands like Calvin Klein, Ugg and Champion in addition to Amazon’s own brands Daily Ritual, Amazon Essentials and Goodthreads, which offer quality basics for women and for men.
Amazon said in a press release that athleisure and active apparel remain a gifting favorite, and shoppers opted for brands like L.A.’s Alo Yoga and Monrow in addition to classics including Champion and Nike.
What made it onto customers’ Amazon wish lists this holiday? Consumers again cemented their preference for active and outdoor-oriented clothing labels with Adidas, Columbia and Nike making their way onto want lists everywhere.
But Simple Joys, the baby and toddler clothing brand Carter’s created exclusively for Amazon, also showed up on customer’s lists, Amazon said. It’s an important development for the multi-billion-dollar children’s wear giant, one that CFO Richard Westenberger described as “growing rapidly” and “an important growth initiative for us” in the company’s third quarter earnings call.
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“Simple Joys growth continues to ramp up and we’ve seen a notable increase in demand recently since Amazon made this brand available to all of its customers,” Westenberger said, adding that the brand was previously exclusively available to Prime shoppers.
In a competitive holiday season that saw Walmart and Target also duking it out for dominance in delivery and fulfillment, Amazon remained a draw for customers.
“This season was our best yet, and we look forward to continuing to bring our customers what they want, in ways most convenient for them in 2019,” Jeff Wilke, CEO Worldwide Consumer for Amazon, said. “We are thrilled that in the U.S. alone, more than one billion items shipped for free this holiday with Prime.”
Alexa usage also ticked up over the holidays, as users asked the digital voice assistant to nudge them for eight times more reminders than they did in the prior-year period. Amazon said people used Alexa to turn on holiday lights “tens of millions” of times, set 100 million timers, and shake up hundreds of thousands of adult beverages, especially Moscow Mules and eggnog.
Voice, for now, continues to lag as a commerce channel but as Amazon’s data shows, the company could be collecting valuable information on consumer behavior and engagement with its virtual assistant as it figures out how to make shopping truly viable just by speaking.