Saks Arrived on Amazon, the Trade War Is Still on Its Way

There’s Amazon’s new push into luxury with Saks and then there’s the e-commerce company’s push even higher — literally into space.

Amazon’s quarterly updates to Wall Street contain a list of things it’s checked off its to-do list.

There were over 25 items checked off with first-quarter results on Thursday, illustrating just how much the company is working on at any given moment and how hard it is for almost any regular retailer to compete, especially with big increases in tariffs working their way through the system.

“We’re pleased with the start to 2025, especially our pace of innovation and progress in continuing to improve customer experiences,” said Andy Jassy, president and chief executive officer, in a statement.

In between the launch of its first Project Kuiper satellites into low earth orbit and a new AI model that can use a web browser, Amazon tucked in a few fashion updates.

The company made a big step forward in its effort to expand into luxury, opening a storefront on its luxury platform for Saks, featuring brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Balmain, Giambattista Valli, Erdem and Fear of God.

The company also expanded its core selection with goods from Michael Kors, The Ordinary, Laura Mercier and Tarte.

Amazon’s ability to keep offering new products showed up on its top line.

Sales for the first quarter ended March 31 rose 9 percent to $155.7 billion, with North America up 8 percent to $92.9 billion. That powered a 64 percent increase in net profits, to $17.1 billion.

Those heavy footsteps approaching the heart of fashion might be Amazon’s — if not, it’s the immediate impact of President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Even Amazon will feel the impact of a 145 percent tariff on Chinese goods, which promises to shortly choke off trade between the world’s two largest economies.

Jassy told analysts on a conference call: “We haven’t seen any attenuation of demand yet. To some extent, we’ve seen some heightened buying in certain categories that may indicate stocking up in advance of any potential tariff impact. We also have not seen the average selling price of retail items appreciably go up yet.

“This could change depending on where tariffs settle,” the CEO said. “Amazon is not uniquely susceptible to tariffs… We also have an extremely large selection, hundreds of millions of unique , which means we’re often able to weather challenging conditions better than others. When there are periods of discontinuity, substantial unexpected product trends emerge. Think about the pandemic when items like masks enhanced sanitizer became big sellers. When you have the broadest selection like we do and 2 million-plus global sellers like we do, you’re better positioned to help customers find whatever items matter to them at lower price points than elsewhere.”