Amazon's New Supra-Omnichannel: Realizing Growing Seamless Switching for Apparel During COVID-19

Watanabe, C., Akhtar, W., Tou, Y., & Neittaanmäki, P. (2021). Amazon's New Supra-Omnichannel: Realizing Growing Seamless Switching for Apparel During COVID-19. Technology in Society 66 e101645. 10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101645.

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Abstract

While COVID-19 has driven a significant drop in sales, the apparel industry has been undergoing a digital solution-oriented transformation.

Preempting its highly profitable potential, Amazon has been expanding its fashion-driven apparel business by developing a series of advanced digital fashions (ADFs). ADFs intensified Amazon's omnichannel dependence based on seamless switching by utilizing its innovative assets.

With this development, and in response to the increasing necessity for luxury brands to offer extra channels for a non-contact society, Amazon introduced Luxury Stores, a long-lasting digital platform for luxury fashion, in September 2020.

While luxury brands confront “the Internet dilemma,” this conundrum can be solved by synchronizing ADFs, Luxury Stores, and on-demand manufacturing (ODM).

Taking Amazon's challenge to realize its long-lasting dreams of selling luxury brands and using ODM, this paper attempts to demonstrate the significance of this approach for exploring new frontiers in business models beyond the current omnichannel approach.

An empirical analysis was conducted focusing on the development trajectories of seven ADFs and 34 luxury brands that joined Luxury Stores by the end of the first half of 2021 by using a techno-economic analysis, analogical evidence approach, literature review, and subsequent SWOT analysis.

It was demonstrated that by means of timely synchronization of ADFs, Luxury Stores and patented ODM, co-evolution among them can be constructed leading to the emergence of a cloud-based fashion platform that enables on-demand personalization and customization. Consequently, big data on customers, vendors, manufactures, global influencers, and social trends can be collected, which grow and expand Amazon Web Service (AWS). This in turn further accelerates co-evolution among ADFs, Luxury Brands, and ODM. Activated co-evolution further advances cloud-based fashion platforms leading to a virtuous cycle between them. Thus, dual co-evolution of the co-evolution among ADFs, luxury brands, and ODM, and cloud-based fashion platform advancement emerged. This dual-co-evolution leads to a supra-omnichannel approach that enables apparel to grow seamless switching and explore new frontiers beyond current business models.

These findings give rise to suggestions for dynamic and resilient strategies toward a non-contact society.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Supra-; seamless switching; Luxury brands; On-demand manufacturing; Advanced digital fashions; Amazon; COVID-19
Research Programs:	Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) > Cooperation and Transformative Governance (CAT)
Depositing User:	Luke Kirwan
Date Deposited:	19 Jul 2021 08:18
Last Modified:	27 Aug 2021 17:35
URI:	https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/17334

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