Amazon launches standalone footwear site Javari

As Retail Week first reported in June, Javari.co.uk is based on Amazon’s Japanese footwear offer Javari.jp, which launched in March.

Amazon has sold shoes since 2007, but believes a standalone site will be able to attract a larger range of brand names to sell.

At launch, Javari.co.uk features more than 140 brands and 5,500 styles from 140 brands including French Connection, KG by Kurt Geiger, Kipling, Steve Madden and Ted Baker.

Existing Amazon.co.uk customer accounts will work on the new site, which will offer free next day delivery and free returns for a year. Javari will also match any lower price that a customer finds within 14 days of purchase.

Amazon has been aggressively expanding into categories beyond its origins as a bookseller. Globally, sales of its “electronics and general merchandise” category are expected overtake books and media categories this year.

In the United States, Amazon owns footwear site Endless.com and in June acquired Zappos, the popular footwear and fashion site, in a $847m (£513.4m) stock and cash deal.

However, Amazon UK managing director Brian McBride told the Times that there are no plans to introduce the Zappos brand in the UK.

“We want to build the Javari brand and see if it works. I’m hoping that [Javari] will be enough in the medium term,” McBride told The Times.

Although Amazon does not disclose the breakdown of its operations in individual countries, its international arm, which includes the UK, generated a 15 per cent sales lift year on year in the first quarter.