Does Saks pulling out of Amazon’s marketplace reflect a deeper mismatch with luxury brands?

Luxury retailers selling on online marketplaces was always a tricky tradeoff, given the wildly contrasting nature of the two worlds.

However, the recent Saks-Amazon fallout went beyond fashion issues. Amazon’s investor layer made the partnership a bit contentious when Saks filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. And Amazon alleged that the luxury retailer mismanaged the business. Amazon made a $475 million investment in the company in 2024, with Saks agreeing to sell on Amazon’s online store and pay the e-commerce giant at least $900 million over eight years.

Regardless of the financial turmoil, the breakup does pose a question: Is this the end of the road for luxury brands selling on third-party marketplaces? Two experts who spoke with Retail Brew remained divided on the issue. Luxury which has been in a state of upheaval, has been quietly retreating from e-commerce platforms to sell direct, or more specifically in stores, where they control the vibe, the neighbors, and the relationship.

All about stores: Gary Schoenfeld, president of Reklaim, a luxury dealer of secondhand watches and bags, told Retail Brew that customers still prefer to shop in-person, and luxury as a category stands out as one where the full in-store experience with things like personalized service and high-touch interactions remains irreplaceable.

“The news of Hermès paying $400 million for a new location in Beverly Hills is certainly validation of that,” Schoenfeld said. “And you see a lot of other retailers, [like] Selfridges, doing some exciting things in London in terms of high service.”

Sky Canaves, eMarketer analyst for retail and e-commerce, agreed. “I think for the most part, luxury consumers also gravitate toward the direct in-store experience with luxury brands,” Canaves told Retail Brew. “They want to go into the store, be treated well by the associates, take home the bag with the bow on it, and everything. So, for the most part, luxury brands haven’t had to go elsewhere to meet the consumer where they are.”

Over the last couple of years, the luxury market has contracted in size, and growth has stalled from the days of the post-pandemic boom, when bored shoppers were willing to buy luxury items even at inflated prices.

“As we’re now in 2026, it’s very apparent that the customer has delineated that online provides a lot of convenience for a lot of everyday kinds of items, and yet, the in-store shopping service—being able to touch, feel, try things on—continues to be a very important part of consumers’ preference in terms of both how to shop and also what they enjoy doing,” Schoenfeld said.

Just looking: This spiral has also trickled down to online luxury. Personal luxury e-commerce sales are forecast to remain flat at just below 19% of total luxury e-commerce sales between 2025 and 2029, according to eMarketer estimates.

Canaves pointed out that general e-commerce marketplaces have struggled to draw luxury brands because they want to control the full customer experience and maintain their direct relationships with customers.

“General marketplaces would be even less appealing because they lack the elevated positioning that luxury brands really depend on to maintain their brand image,” she said. “It’s similar to what you see in physical real estate: Luxury brands tend to congregate in very exclusive areas or high-end shopping streets.”

But even that love can be fleeting because consumer loyalty in fashion is declining.

When Saks pulled out of its partnership with Amazon, the company said it was because of low brand demand to join its Amazon store. Canaves questioned whether low demand stemmed from brands actively resisting the Saks on Amazon storefront or if it reflected broader tensions in Saks’s vendor relationships due to missed and delayed payments.

Even in China, where e-commerce is dominant, luxury brands have used marketplaces primarily for awareness and marketing—with beauty products leading the way, Canaves said: “Beauty is a big luxury category in a market like China for e-commerce, for platforms like Tmall, but even there, a much higher share of luxury fashion sales take place in stores than online.”

Overall, Schoenfeld said, it would be “premature” to say there won’t ever be somebody able to make inroads between online and luxury fashion. “Between the two,” he said, “I think that the in-store experience will continue to lead the luxury market.”