Last year, Walmart acquired menswear site Bonobos for $310 million in cash. Now the retailer is adding the brand to a Walmart-owned website. A few days ago, Walmart opened an online shop for Bonobos on its Jet.com website, newly focused on serving urban shoppers, along with a dedicated shop for Nike apparel, footwear and accessories.
The Nike shop is a part of the company’s strategic partnership with the brand, announced in September, and provides Nike with its own fully branded experience on the site. In addition to the Nike items for running, training and sportswear, Jet will become an authorized seller of select Nike and Converse products as a result of the deal.
Meanwhile, the Bonobos shop features fall apparel and other classics, including things like stretch-washed chinos, brushed button-downs, bomber jackets and Italian topcoats, the company says. These, too, will live in their own full-branded experience on Jet.com, and be available for two-day delivery across the U.S., with free returns.
This is the first time, post-acquisition, that Bonobos has been offered on a Walmart-owned third-party website, the company told TechCrunch.
Walmart has been busy establishing itself as a home to brands with their own dedicated followings, and often a millennial customer base. In October, it bought women’s plus-size clothing brand ELOQUII, in a $100 million deal.
The brand joined many others now under Walmart’s roof, including ModCloth, Moosejaw, ShoeBuy and Hayneedle, in addition to Bonobos.
Walmart, so far, had simply allowed the brands to continue to operate their own sites — but that changed in August when Moosejaw became the first of the acquisitions to open a digital storefront on Walmart.com. In that case, the new shop featured a curated selection of the brand’s outdoor gear — best sellers that appealed to Walmart’s mainstream customers.
The retailer is now doing the same with Bonobos.
The Jet.com storefront doesn’t include everything the brands sell, but rather a “curated assortment.”
For example, the Bonobos Jet.com store has just five jackets for sale today — but the Bonobos website features dozens in its Outerwear section. In addition to an expanded range of apparel, the brand’s own site offers accessories like ties, socks, belts, shoes, wallets and more.
Walmart brought Bonobos to Jet.com instead of Walmart.com because of the overlap in customer demographics — Jet.com is meant to appeal more to the young, urban shopper.
It relaunched its site in September with localized versions for various U.S. cities, and same-day grocery delivery, starting in New York. It also just added Blue Apron’s meal kits to its site — making Jet.com the company’s first e-tailer partner.
In addition to Jet.com’s focus on urban customers, fashion itself has become a key battleground between Walmart and Amazon, with each courting brands for partnerships and acquisitions.
In recent months, Walmart.com has become home to fashion brands’ own storefronts, having added Lord & Taylor to its site, for example. Amazon, meanwhile, has established partnerships of its own, including the recent addition of J.Crew, along with others like Chico’s FAS, Calvin Klein and Nike. However, its Stitch Fix try-before-you-buy service, Prime Wardrobe, focuses on its own in-house labels, which Amazon is rolling out at scale.
“Customers value trust more than ever and it’s important for retailers to have a clear point of view on what they stand for and who they choose to partner with. As we continue implementing our new strategy focused on the city consumer, we’re delighted to welcome Nike and Bonobos to Jet.com,” said Simon Belsham, president, Jet.com, in a statement. “Like Jet, both brands understand the importance of providing a great experience that customers can trust. Having a direct relationship with them both means we can offer a fully branded experience and a unique assortment of the brands’ leading pieces, which is important as we head into the holiday season,” he added.
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