Is Amazon.com preparing for a big play in liquidations?
Amazon.com could be heading into the liquidation business in a big way. A June report from Legg Mason, the underwriter of a secondary Overstock.com share offering, stated that it believed Amazon had hired an ex-buyer from Overstock to help relaunch its outlet category. The outlet category hasn’t been actively promoted by Amazon.
Legg Mason analyst Scott Devitt, who authored the report, cites, but will not disclose, multiple industry sources for the information. He adds: “Amazon is a great company, we do not view the relaunch as a risk to Overstock.” The Legg Mason report also speculated that given Amazon’s pattern of expansion announcements—for instance, it announced expansion in the jewelry category on the day of Overstock’s quarterly conference call—Overstock’s next conference call, to discuss results for its second quarter to end June 30, could be a likely time for Amazon to report news regarding its outlet business.
Overstock CEO Patrick Bryne told Internet Retailer earlier this month that he had been aware for several months of rumors that Amazon was preparing to re-invigorate the outlet category. An industry source tells Internet Retailer that he was aware of reports that Amazon’s planned sales target in the outlet arena might reach as high as $100 million this year alone, and that he was personally aware of surplus dealers who have been approached by Amazon about selling surplus goods on Amazon’s platform.
When contacted, an Amazon spokeswoman said that as a policy, Amazon does not comment on speculation about the company.
Back...
