HARLEY-DAVIDSON has taken the bold step of removing all its official H-D branded merchandise from the Amazon online store.
The decision has come right from the top of the Harley-Davidson boardroom, with CEO Jochen Zeitz confirming the news to The Detroit News. The move is to ensure that Harley and only Harley is benefiting from the no doubt sizeable sums of cash to be made from the company’s apparel and motorcycle kit ranges.
“We want to have a fully integrated, digital e-commerce business with our dealers, Amazon was not really something that got our dealers into the mix,” Zeitz said to the paper.
The move slots into the brand's current ‘Hardwire’ business strategy, which is all about shifting the firm's focus back to the core customers while taking tentative steps into new markets. The news that Harley-Davidson is now putting its dealers first, instead of Amazon, is also likely to be music to a lot of people’s ears – especially the dealers.
COVID-19 has pretty much decimated the retail sector in the last twelve months, and with dealers in many regions in a state of extended stasis, the extra cash flow will be most welcome indeed.
Could other brands also leave the Amazon platform?
Harley is not the first global name to withdraw from the Amazon platform, Nike also jumped ship, instead preferring to deal directly with its customers via a renewed e-commerce platform. Could other companies follow suit? The chances of that are highly likely, especially given the current climate.
