Amazon have announced their entry into the footwear market by acquiring Zappos.com. Hitwise reported that the footwear retailer ranked third in the Apparel and Accessories category behind Victoria's Secret and Old Navy.

Amazon was providing more traffic to Zappos than one of its own entities Endless.com, and with the current offerings available via Amazon, it made sense for the online super-site to further grow their product range. With a large amount of footwear retailers currently on Amazon selling via the marketplace (I.e. Schuh, Office and Mr Shoes), it id difficult to predict what this merger could do to online traffic and sales to these companies.

It appears that Amazon are continuing to be the online version of Tescos with their growth and there are few companies that can keep up with regards to product range. In this case, it seems that footwear specialists will have to showcase their expertise and credibility to show how they are much better they are than the online giant.

Related links:

• Amazon
• Zappos
• Hitwise report
• For more information on commercialisation within online retail, visit Sticky Panda