Ivanka Trump’s signature perfume is a best seller on retail giant Amazon. Ivanka Trump Eau de Parfum Spray For Women ($34 for a 3.4-ounce bottle) was No. 1 on Amazon’s AMZN, +0.11% list of bestselling fragrances and perfume for at least the third consecutive day. Another of the first daughter’s products, Ivanka Trump For Women Roller Ball ($15), was No. 3 on Saturday. One reviewer wrote: “I normally buy this at Nordstrom. But now that I heard they will not carry it anymore, I was happy to find it on Amazon.” (Radha Beauty Aromatherapy was at No. 2 on Amazon’s list.) The success of the perfume on Amazon suggests the “resistance economy” to boycott products associated with the family of President Trump can help a brand as well as hurt it.
The success of Ivanka Trump’s perfume on Amazon suggests the ‘resistance economy’ to boycott products associated with the family of President Trump can help a brand as well as hurt it.
Nordstrom Inc. JWN, +3.42% said earlier this month that its own widely reported decision to cut Ivanka Trump’s fashion brand from its lineup was also purely a business decision and not based on protests like the #GrabYourWallet campaign. The company said sales of Ivanka Trump footwear and apparel fell 32% last year. “Each year we cut about 10% and refresh our assortment with about the same amount,” the company told MarketWatch. President Trump tweeted in response: “My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person — always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!”
That commercial decision became a political issue when Trump’s senior adviser Kellyanne Conway urged people to buy Ivanka Trump products. Such a statement potentially violates federal ethics regulations that prohibit federal employees from making endorsements, Republican House Oversight Committee leader Jason Chaffetz said. Conway, appearing remotely for “Fox & Friends,” told viewers they should “go buy Ivanka stuff.” CNN later reported that Conway apologized to Trump for the remarks. (Fox News is owned by News Corp., the parent company of Dow Jones, which also owns MarketWatch.)
There has been a drip feed of stories about Trump products being dropped by major retailers. Also this month, Brian Hanover, a spokesman for Sears Holding Corp., which also owns Kmart, told Reuters news agency, that it was discontinuing 31 Trump Home brand products online. “As part of the company’s initiative to optimize its online product assortment, we constantly refine that assortment to focus on our most profitable items,” he said. “Amid that streamlining effort, 31 Trump Home items were among the items removed online this week.”. (Both Hanover and a spokesperson for Trump Home brand did not respond to request for comment.)
Other department stores were under pressure to rethink their relationship with the Trump brand. Neiman Marcus, Macy’s Inc. M, +1.51% , T.J. Maxx, TJX, +0.47% and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT, +0.73% are also on a list of retailers named by the online #GrabYou#Wallet campaign to boycott for carrying Trump family products. “Neiman Marcus has a very small Ivanka Trump precious jewelry business which is [composed] 100% of consigned merchandise,” a Neiman Marcus representative told MarketWatch earlier this month. “Based on productivity, we continuously assess whether our brands are carried in stores, on our website, or both.”
Trump’s election as U.S. president also became a flashpoint for celebrities who backed out of his inauguration — and some companies, including L.L. Bean — particularly on social media. “It is due to the proliferation, speed and reach of social media that we perceive the resistance economy as a growing phenomenon in 2017,” Ryann Reynolds-McIlnay, assistant professor of merchandising management at Oregon State University College of Business in Corvallis, told MarketWatch. But she also said that, as with the recent jump in sales of Ivanka Trump’s perfume, this politically-driven #GrabYourWallet campaigning can cut both ways.
Source: Marketwatch
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