Amazon amasses secret army of house brands such as Strathwood, NuPro and Myhabit
Amazon may have been steadily building a name for itself in the world of e-commerce but behind the scenes it has been steadily putting its buying power to the fore by amassing an army of subsidiary house brands from which to further spread its tentacles.
Amazon amasses secret army of house brands such as Strathwood, NuPro and Myhabit
Through AmazonBasics the retailer is keeping costs in check by cutting out the middleman entirely by selling self-produced goods ranging from phone chargers and batteries to backpacks and cloths as the e-tailer seeks to diversify into myriad consumer goods.
Wary of upsetting commercial partnerships these brands go unpublicized but research by Quartz has identified no less than 19 brands registered on the quiet with the US Patent and Trademark Office; including Strathwood (furniture); NuPro (tech accessories); Myhabit (consumer goods) and Denali (tools).
All of these brands bar one bed linen brand, Pinzon by Amazon, are coy about their true ownership, appearing on the platform in the same fashion as any other company’s products with no differentiation beyond the fact that their company profiles state that their wares are ‘exclusively for Prime members’.
Surmising the company’s intent behind this low-key strategy Quartz suggests that it is product of a rapacious appetite for growth while giving customers ‘… the impression to customers that there are tons of options to choose from, when in fact, they’re really just choosing between different Amazon brands.’
In a further sign of Amazon's growing ambitions the company outbid Sky for exclusive broadcast rights to the ATP World Tour.