Birkenstock can defy but not beat Amazon

Washington

WHY would a solid, mid-sized German company such as sandal maker Birkenstock take on an American giant such as Amazon? Birkenstock is doing it because it can afford to; but it's also showing the way for other companies wondering how much market power Amazon might have over them in the future.

Birkenstock Americas - which provides about 40 per cent of the closely held company's sales, running currently in the mid-nine-figure range - announced last year that it would stop selling on Amazon because it said there was no way to police fakes on the platform. That was rather a thin excuse: Counterfeit Birkenstocks aren't easy to find on Amazon.