Wellness Newsletter: Inside Adidas’ Love-Hate Relationship With Amazon
Photo Credit: A woman is shown browsing her laptop. Wellness brands are grappling over Amazon partnerships that have the potential make their products accessible and bring scale, but can lead to weaker brand identity and valuation. Unsplash / @thoughtcatalog
Skift Take
Teaming up with Amazon could mean cash flow now, but at what cost down the line? It’s a question every brand that partners with the giant should ask –– especially in the wellness industry, when so much of a company’s DNA centers around cultivating a feel-good image.
What do wellness brands want? Usually, the goal is to create an almost cult-like following, with fans so passionate, they see the brand not just as another company, but rather, a lifestyle. Then again (to state the obvious) they want to make money, too.
Adidas is grappling over this very issue — customer connection versus profit — amid its wider debate over whether to expand its relationship with Amazon. The fact that its CEO Kasper Rorsted is even considering the expansion is an indication that business on the Everything Store is thriving.
Still, he makes it clear that getting in too deep with Amazon could mean a loss of brand identity — something athleisure companies want to avoid as much as possible. If people are interacting more and more with the digital retailer, Adidas could lose some of its voice — and that’s not optimal.
What’s more, Amazon is synonymous with bargain deals, and price cuts could bring down brand value if Adidas isn’t careful (especially a
