Amazon Collection, which is already available on the platform, provides consumers with hundreds of discounted jewellery products across diamond simulants and synthetic diamonds.
According to Business Insider, the trademark file notes stated “For Keeps” would be used for “precious metals and their alloys and goods in precious metals” and the “online retail sales of jewellery.”
This has led industry observers to speculate that the new collection may be Amazon’s entry into luxury brands or more high-end offerings.
Barry Urquhart, managing director of Marketing Focus, has monitored the rise of Amazon and its impact on the Australian retail sector. He told Jeweller that Amazon’s move to sell more jewellery under its brand should not impact on retailers’ bottom line, but on expectations to provide strong customer service both in-store and online.
“Australian retailers and businesses at large have had to respond, not so much to the presence of Amazon, but to the expectations that its presence has had on consumer expectations,” Urquhart said.
“Today consumers are aware, discerning, demanding and know they’ve got access to information sources, making this an informed, price sensitive marketplace.”
Urquhart said studies showed 64-68 per cent of consumers were going online to view products and compare prices before visiting a bricks-and-mortar retail space, regardless of the category of retail.
According to Urquhart, while around 9 per cent of the Australian population have visited Amazon Prime, which launched late last year, many were underwhelmed by the launch of its sister site Amazon Marketplace, which met under half of its delivery expectations.
He believes retailers can capitalise on the customers that Marketplace lost in its early days.
“They were to a large extent underwhelmed with the price competitiveness and the ability for the resellers on that particular Marketplace platform to comply with a 48 per cent expectation of deliveries,” he said.
“Amazon has got to entice those consumers back and reposition itself, because a lot of Australians who had previously not dealt with Amazon did so from November of 2017 and were not enjoying the experience. They have not come back.”
While growth of Amazon’s jewellery sector may evoke concern among retailers, Urquhart said it was up to individual businesses to build an ‘omnichannel’ presence in order to compete.
“Online purchases in Australia still represent less than 8 per cent of total sales. Amazon opens the door of opportunities. What it doesn’t do terribly effectively is close sales,” he said.
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