Bath & Body Works says it can't compete without Amazon

• Bath & Body Works is turning to Amazon as part of its turnaround effort, CEO Daniel Heaf said.
• The e-commerce giant is helping the mall staple reach new customers.
• Growing market share is "difficult" without Amazon's reach, he said.

Bath & Body Works has a secret ingredient in its turnaround effort: Amazon.

The retailer, known for its hand sanitizer and fragrances, started selling on Amazon in the US in February. Bath & Body Works CEO Daniel Heaf said that the e-commerce giant is playing a major role in a revamp of its online strategy.

Bath & Body Works already has "unbelievable scale" in markets including North America, Heaf said on Wednesday at the Semafor World Economy Summit. While it's trying to grow through sales on its own website, Amazon plays a necessary part, he said.

"It's actually difficult for us to take share without being on Amazon, because they are so large in our category," Heaf said.

Until recently, Bath & Body Works was among the brands that avoided selling its products on Amazon. Some brands, such as Birkenstock, have also pulled their products from the platform, citing concerns about counterfeit goods. Oftentimes, products from these brands are still sold on Amazon through third-party sellers.

Heaf joined Bath & Body Works as CEO last May. He previously spent several years at Nike, including stints overseeing direct sales and digital strategy for the shoe brand.

Nike resumed selling on Amazon in 2025 after a several-year hiatus when the brand sought to sell more shoes directly to shoppers — a misstep CEO Elliott Hill has since worked to fix.

Since becoming CEO of Bath & Body Works, Heaf has attempted to turn the struggling mall retailer around and attract younger consumers. One of his moves has been launching sales on Amazon — a place where consumers were already buying tens of millions of dollars a year in Bath & Body Works products from third-party sellers, he said.

Early sales results suggest that Bath & Body Works products are reaching new customers on Amazon. Some products that haven't sold well in the chain's 2,500 stores are overperforming when listed on Amazon, Heaf said.

"The consumer on Amazon is prepared to pay more than the consumer in our stores because they want to have free next-day shipping," Heaf said.

Previously, Bath & Body Works' online presence was secondary to its physical stores and not meant to attract new customers, Heaf said. "The website has acted as a catalog for store customers to replenish what they've already bought," he said on Wednesday.

Now, Heaf said, the company is trying to beef up its online presence, including by selling on Amazon.

"As a brand, you don't get to choose which channels you go to, where the customer is," he said.

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