Last year, the company’s gross merchandise apparel sales — Amazon’s direct sales of clothing plus the commission it collects<br />on sales by independent merchants on its site — were $22 billion, or 6.6 percent of the market, Cowen estimated.<br />The company’s apparel team is exploring the possibility of offering “on-demand” clothing<br />that would be made only after a customer submitted an order, using the customer’s precise measurements, according to a person briefed on the discussions who asked for anonymity because they were confidential.<br />Online clothing and accessory shopping’s share of retail hit 21 percent last year, according to estimates by Cowen and Company, a stock research firm.<br />Amazon’s solution was to improve clothing selection, pour money into photography to give internet shoppers a better representation of garments<br />and offer free returns on most apparel so customers could order untroubled by the thought of sending items back.<br />If there are tipping points in retail — moments when shopping behavior swings decisively in one direction — there’s a strong case to be made<br />that apparel is reaching one now, with broad implications for jobs, malls and shopping districts.<br />If it works, the plan could make shoppers happier by delivering clothing<br />that looks better on them, while also addressing the ruinous consequences that returns can have on the profits of internet apparel retailers.<br />About 35 percent of all apparel orders are returned, said Stefan Weitz, chief product and strategy officer for Radial, a company<br />that runs e-commerce operations for other brands and retailers.<br />“I do think this year is the year apparel e-commerce takes off,” said Cooper Smith, an analyst at L2.<br />One idea Amazon is considering to lubricate apparel shopping: custom-fit clothing.
