Amazon.com adds Shopbop to its apparel rack

Amazon.com Inc. is making room in its closet for ShopBop.com, its latest acquisition. The Internet retailing kingpin will continue to operate Shopbop.com as a stand-alone site, complementing Amazon.com’s apparel and accessories store. Shopbop.com’s customer experience will remain the same and headquarters will stay in Madison, Wis. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Some Internet retailing analysts are questioning why Amazon, No. 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 400 Guide to Retail Web Sites, would acquire another online clothing retailer.

“It’s certainly a different acquisition,” says Jim Okamura, senior partner at consulting firm J.C. Williams Group. “It may benefit their web services group, which is clearly targeting apparel and home furnishings retailers. It gives Amazon’s web services business a chance to hone their merchandising skills with their own niche clothing retailer.”

ShopBop.com, No. 185 in the Internet Retailer Top 400 Guide to Retail Web Sites, was founded in 1999 as a single store. It sells women’s apparel, shoes and accessories from more than 75 designers. “We`re very happy to have the support, experience and resources of Amazon to take the Shopbop brand and business to new levels,” says Shopbop CEO Bob Lamey.

Launched in 1995, online mass merchant Amazon.com is a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle. It operates international sites, including ones for the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, France and Canada.