A year ago I wrote a post on why Nordstrom (JWN) intrigued me. Nordstrom’s online presence and growth was my thesis for making it one of my top holdings.
Last month I closed out most of my position in Nordstrom. Why? I have a stronger thesis: Always fear Amazon. And Amazon is getting into the online clothing business:
https://consumerist.com/2016/02/23/amazon-now-selling-clothing-under-its-own-in-house-brands/
From what I can tell, Amazon is going after the sweet spot of Nordstrom’s clientele. No data yet on how successful this will be for Amazon, or how much it will hurt Nordstrom. I still hold a position in Nordstrom’s as I think they are a great brand and well run, but I figure I should probably watch from the sidelines for a while.
On a related topic, online clothing sales is the biggest online sales category in 2015. Conventional wisdom had been that consumers wanted to touch and try on clothes during the purchasing process, but apparently online convenience is more important. Who would of thought that 5 years ago?
Is any bricks and mortar retailer safe these days? That’s the question I continue to ask myself (that – and who is filling all these office buildings I see being built?). For now the only other brick and mortar retailers I hold is Costco and Starbucks – companies I see as safe from the online revolution – for now.