Bath & Body Works begins selling on Amazon as brands embrace logistics network

Bath and Body Works Champagne Toast Body Wash, with no shipping minimum, is now just one click away Amazon Key members.

The mall-favorite brand makes some of the best-selling perfumes, body wash, hand soaps and candles for U.S. Amazon shoppers. 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 comes in second place with a 9% share. Euromonitor estimates that 39% of all beauty and personal care sales are made online.

“Launching our brand’s first authorized storefront on Amazon allows us to put ourselves directly in the consumer’s path,” Bath & Body Works CEO Daniel Heff told CNBC. “It’s about meeting them where they actually shop.”

The Amazon launch represents the latest effort by Columbus, Ohio-based Bath & Body Works to expand its access points for customers. Last year, it began selling its products in campus stores — with a footprint now of more than 1,000 locations — at the company’s first points of sale outside of its nearly 2,600 owned and licensed stores and its own website.

Heaf joined Bath & Body Works in May after his position as chief transformation and strategy officer at Nike was axed by CEO Elliott Hale.

Hef recently made his comeback plan [Bath & Body Works] To profitable and sustainable growth.” He calls it a “consumer-first formula” with four pillars: create innovative and innovative products, revitalize the brand, win in the market, and act quickly and efficiently.

The Amazon partnership “is the first of many accomplishments we will achieve this fiscal year under this strategy,” Heff said.

Prior to the official launch of the storefront, Bath & Body Works products were sold on Amazon through third-party sellers.

Now, Heff says the company is trying to reclaim the brand story on Amazon, and those marketplace sales.

While Amazon has many first-party relationships with brands from… Nike For Calvin Klein to use wholesale partnerships as part of its business models, there are a few examples of retailers selling on the site who design, manufacture and sell their products entirely on their own.

For those so-called vertically integrated brands, like Bath & Body Works, Amazon is increasingly playing the role of skilled logistics partner rather than retailer.

gapAnd J. Crew and Everlane are similarly vertically integrated and have a small selection of branded products for sale on Amazon.

Gap began selling what it calls “basic essentials for the whole family” in 2022 through a wholesale relationship, where Amazon owns and sells Prime-eligible products. Gap said its goal is to reach new or old customers as well as provide convenience to existing shoppers for “basic necessities.”

Under Bath & Body Works’ new agreement with Amazon, the brand will retain inventory ownership and price control, 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 a request for comment.

Jewelry company Kendra Scott has an Amazon-certified storefront after initially opposing the partnership — though it has wholesale relationships with other retailers, including Messi 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 internal matters on the condition of anonymity.

On its website, Bath & Body Works makes it easy for shoppers to place their orders. The company reduced the free shipping limit to $50 from $100 last month.

However, Hef admits, “We know that we will never compete with Amazon in terms of their mainline network. No one is going to offer next day shipping. That’s not what we’re working on. So I think by moving to Amazon, we’re also making our position more competitive but we realize that our job is not to build a fulfillment network that can operate at the speed of Amazon.”