An assortment of Bath & Body Works products.
Courtesy of Bath & Body Works
Bath and body work Champagne Toast Body Wash, with no minimum shipping threshold, is now just a click away for Amazon Main members.
The mall-favorite brand is making some of its best-selling perfumes, body washes, hand soaps and candles available to U.S. Amazon shoppers. The selection is also eligible for Prime Shipping.
Amazon is the top online destination for U.S. beauty shoppers, accounting for 47% of the U.S. online beauty and personal care market in 2024, according to Euromonitor. Sephora is second with 9% market share. Euromonitor estimates that 39% of all beauty and personal care product sales take place online.
“Launching our first authorized brand storefront on Amazon puts us directly in the path of the consumer,” Daniel Heaf, CEO of Bath & Body Works, told CNBC. “It’s about meeting them where they already shop.”
The Amazon launch marks the latest effort by Columbus, Ohio-based Bath & Body Works to expand its customer access points. Last year, it began selling its products in college campus stores – with a presence now of more than 1,000 locations – in the company’s first retail outlets outside its approximately 2,600 owned and franchised stores and its own website.
Heaf joined Bath & Body Works in May after his role as Nike’s chief transformation and strategy officer was eliminated by CEO Elliott Hill.
Heaf recently outlined his “plan to return [Bath & Body Works] profitable and sustainable growth. He calls it a “consumer-driven formula” built on four pillars: creating disruptive and innovative products, relaunching the brand, winning in the market, and operating with speed and efficiency.
The partnership with Amazon, Heaf said, “is the first of many steps we will take this fiscal year as part of this strategy.”
Prior to the storefront’s official launch, Bath & Body Works products were sold on Amazon through third-party resellers.
Today, Heaf says the company is trying to reclaim the brand’s history on Amazon — and sales on the marketplace.
Amazon: friend or foe?
Although Amazon has many first-party relationships with leading brands, Nike While Calvin Klein uses wholesale partnerships as part of its business models, there are few examples of retailers selling on the site who design, manufacture and sell their products entirely themselves.
For so-called vertically integrated brands, such as Bath & Body Works, Amazon is increasingly playing the role of a competent logistics partner rather than a retailer.
GapJ. Crew and Everlane are also vertically integrated and offer small selections of branded products for sale on Amazon.
Gap began selling what it calls “staples for the whole family” in 2022 through a wholesale relationship, in which Amazon owns and sells the Prime-eligible products. Gap said its goal was to reach new and existing customers, as well as provide existing shoppers with the convenience of “essential products.”
Under Bath & Body Works’ new deal with Amazon, the brand will retain ownership of inventory and control pricing, but will use Amazon’s network of fulfillment partners for Prime eligibility.
Everlane declined to comment on its partnership with Amazon. J. Crew did not respond to request for comment.
Jewelry company Kendra Scott has an authorized storefront on Amazon after initially opposing the partnership, even though it had wholesale relationships with other retailers including Macy’s and Nordstrom. But over time, the brand began to view Amazon as another opportunity to reach shoppers rather than a competitive threat, according to a person familiar with the company’s decision-making process, who spoke about internal matters on condition of anonymity.
On its own website, Bath & Body Works makes it easier for shoppers to place orders. The company lowered its free shipping threshold from $100 to $50 last month.
Heaf nevertheless admits: “We know we will never compete with Amazon in terms of the Prime network.