July 20 – US digital giant Amazon is inserting itself deeper and deeper into football’s economic foodchain with the launch by Serie A’s Napoli of its own store on the ecommerce platform.
Napoli are the first football club to launch an official dedicated store portal on Amazon. The store opening was timed with the launch of the club’s new kit for the 2018/19 season.
The store can be accessed via Amazon in Italy, France, the UK and Spain, with North America expected to come online soon.
“This new partnership will bring tens of millions of fans across the world closer to the club by offering Amazon customers quick, easy access to Napoli kit and merchandise,” said a club press release.
“Starting today, fans can go to the Napoli Amazon Brand Store and find Kappa products along with a full range of Napoli Calcio-licensed merchandise…The Amazon partnership is part of the international development strategy the club has been carrying forward in recent years with the aim of strengthening the Napoli brand in foreign markets.”
Amazon is forecast to become the leading retailer of sports apparel in the US in 2018, according to a report by Morgan Stanley. It gained a 1.5% of market share last year.
The company has also signalled its intentions in the football broadcast rights market, picking up the final Premier League TV rights packages for the UK. Amazon will livestream exclusive coverage of 20 matches a season online from 2019 to 2021.
“Napoli have become a regular fixture among the top 20 clubs in UEFA rankings, have over 40 million fans worldwide as well as a further 120 million with a passing interest,” said Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis.
“It is very important to us to be able to offer them easy access to our merchandise, and Amazon offer extraordinarily efficient distribution and order management services.”
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