Amazon has jumped from a joint second place with Target to first place among U.S. apparel retailers, according to a survey by Coresight Research. The survey found that Prime members account for two-thirds of all Amazon apparel shoppers, up from around 60% last year.
Amazon’s private labels are the fourth-most-bought clothing or footwear brand on Amazon.com, Coresight found, with Nike, Under Armour and Adidas ranking ahead of it.
The survey found that Amazon and Target remain head-to-head in apparel, with Amazon competing more with Walmart than it was last year. Most Amazon apparel shoppers said they had switched from Walmart, followed by Target.
The survey revealed that Amazon has established its number one position by penetrating the heart of the mid-market, with the profile of the average Amazon apparel shopper very close to that of the average apparel shopper overall.
This year, 60.5% of respondents said they bought clothing or footwear on Amazon, vs. less than half last year. The survey also found a jump in the number of shoppers that expects to buy apparel on Amazon in the next 12 months.
Apparel, including footwear, is now the most bought category on Amazon, up from fourth place last year, surpassing books, beauty and electronics.
Coresight found apparel sales showed signs of peaking among Prime members, nearly 75% of whom said they bought in the category on Amazon in the past year, compared to just one third of non-Prime members.
This suggests that penetration rates for apparel shopping among Prime members may be close at or close to their peak. This data indicates that further growth in Amazon’s pool of apparel shoppers will likely be driven by non-Prime membership.
Coresight also found Prime membership leveling off in the U.S. About 53% of those surveyed said they have their own Prime membership while another 23% said they have access to Prime benefits through someone else in their household, up from 43% and 21%, respectively in 2018.
Amazon’s expansion of its private-label collections was reflected in the survey, with one in six Amazon shoppers saying they bought from its lines in the past year. Coresight’s June 2018 analysis found that Amazon.com offered 4,904 of its own private-label apparel items, representing 75% of all private-label products available on the marketplace.
Seventeen percent of respondents said they have purchased Amazon’s private label apparel, up from 11% last year, Coresight found, with more than 20% of Amazon apparel shoppers interested in trying them. While only 7% of those surveyed said those labels were what specifically attracted them to shop on Amazon, it was more than double from 3% last year.
By age and income, Amazon’s average shoppers is similar to those at several department stores, mass merchandisers and off-pricers. The average Amazon apparel shopper has a household income comparable to Target, T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and Kohl’s, and is in the same age range. They’re slightly younger than apparel shoppers in general but slightly older than those of Target, off-pricers and specialty stores such as Old Navy, H&M and Forever 21.
Target shoppers continue to over-index vs the average and vs. Walmart in terms of expectations to buy apparel on Amazon in the next 12 months. Target apparel shoppers are also more likely to have a Prime membership.