Top fashion brands move away from exclusive e-tail deals

Top apparel and footwear brands, including Under Armour, Nike, Marks & Spencer and Adidas are shunning exclusive agreements in order to reach a wider consumer base, which is not possible by being available on a single e-commerce platform. For instance, German sportswear maker Adidas, which had an exclusive tie-up with Flipkart and Myntra, has started selling on Amazon India. British retailer Marks & Spencer, which went online in India through Flipkart Group, has now moved to Amazon and Ajio as well.

Earlier brands launched their operations by collaborating with one strong online player. However, they soon realised that they could do more business by being on other marketplaces since the customer profile for each platform is different. Therefore, they started segmenting their product assortments more sharply. This helped them to deliver more effective and impactful communication, while optimising marketing dollars.