Rent the Runway opens online store on Amazon
Rent the Runway is expanding its e-commerce presence via a partnership with Amazon.
The designer apparel rental giant is opening a storefront on Amazon Fashion storefront to sell a selection of its pre-owned items and exclusive new fashions from its Design Collective. The pre-owned offerings will include hundreds of styles from more than 35 brands and cover categories that include casual wear, workwear, evening styles and essentials such as sweaters, tops, coats and denim.
In addition, Rent the Runway will offer an exclusive selection of new merchandise from its Design Collective, which lets designers create limited-edition collections based on preferences suggested by the rental company’s proprietary data and customer insights. The selection will be available only on Amazon Fashion and Rent the Runway’s own e-commerce site. According to Rent the Runway, Design Collective items are among its most popular.
Products sold via Rent the Runway’s Amazon Fashion storefront are eligible for free shipping and returns for Prime members.
"Collaborating with Amazon Fashion brings Rent the Runway incredible brand awareness," said Jenn Hyman, Rent the Runway co-founder and CEO. "We believe strategic relationships like this can ignite a new engine of growth for our business. They also showcase demand for our products beyond our community and allow more customers to experience exclusive data-driven fashion from our top design partners."
The partnership with Amazon comes as Rent the Runway, which took a big hit during the worst of the COVID pandemic, continues to work to a return to profitability. Although its losses have been on the decline, it still posted a net loss of $36.1 million for its third quarter (ended Oct. 31, 2022).
“At Amazon Fashion, we continually expand our assortment through strategic relationships with brands to inspire and delight our customers,” said Muge Erdirik Dogan, president of Amazon Fashion. “Rent the Runway’s collection continues to grow our offering in pre-loved and designer fashion.”
Rent the Runway, Amazon Fashion continue growing online partnerships
This new collaboration is not a unique arrangement for either Rent the Runway or Amazon Fashion. In July 2022, Rent the Runway partnered with off-price retailer Saks Off 5th to allow Saks Off 5th customers to buy to pre-owned fashions for the first time directly from the apparel rental giant. A curated collection of pre-owned merchandise from Rent the Runway is now available on SaksOff5th.com.
And in November 2022, Amazon Fashion partnered with Gap Inc. to have the apparel giant’s namesake brand launch a store on Amazon in the U.S. and Canada that includes what Gap described as “basic, modern essentials for the family.” The collection, which features thousands of items, marks the first time that Gap has sold its merchandise on Amazon.