Amazon and Target Forge E-tail Partnership

E-tail giant Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) has added retailer Target (NYSE: TGT) to its growing list of brick-and-mortar partners.

Under the five-year deal, Target will sell clothing, home products, electronics and jewelry through Amazon, starting this fall.

Amazon will be responsible for customer care and order fulfillment and will receive a fee for each unit sold, as well as annual payments from Target. Specific financial terms were not disclosed.

“We’re always looking to expand selection for our customers,” Amazon chief executive officer Jeff Bezos said. “In time for the holiday shopping season, and then continuing in 2002, Amazon.com will have jewelry, apparel, and more home living and electronics products available for our customers.”

More Support

In addition, starting next summer, Amazon will also provide the e-commerce platform and customer support for all of Target’s online properties, including Target.com, MarshallFields.com, Mervyns.com and GiftCatalog.com.

“Target.com has experienced tremendous growth in the past 12 months and we believe this new Target store at Amazon.com provides another opportunity to expand our business,” Target vice chairman Jerry Storch said. “We believe this alliance will further strengthen our brand.”

Latest in a Line

Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Target, which was founded in 1962, takes it place alongside several other brick-and-mortar retailers as Amazon partners.

In August, Amazon said it would work with Circuit City (NYSE: CC) in a deal that will allow customers to order online and pick up their purchases at Circuit City stores across the U.S.

Amazon has also taken over most of the heavy e-commerce lifting for bookstore chain Borders (NYSE: BGP).

Additionally, Amazon’s partnership with Toysrus.com is often cited as one of the most successful examples of cooperation between bricks and clicks to date. That alliance was expanded this summer to include children’s learning store Imaginarium.

Mixed Reaction

Amazon has not confined its partnering to the real world. In July, Amazon announced that AOL Time Warner (NYSE: AOL) would invest US$100 million in the e-tailer as part of an expanded partnership agreement.

Not everyone is enamored of partnering with the biggest e-tailer, however. According to several published reports, e-tailer Overstock.com has pulled out of an agreement with Amazon, about three months after the deal was announced.

Overstock reportedly said it sold only one computer in the two weeks since Amazon launched its PC store.