How Netflix’s New Online Store Could Help It Take on Disney
Updated: Jun 16, 2021
Fast Company | June 10, 2021
Netflix opened an e-commerce site where you can buy things like caps, necklaces, hoodies, and, yes, underwear—much of it branded with popular Netflix movies and TV series. The move is part of a larger push for the company to compete with Disney’s streaming business.
Neflix.shop, which was built with Shopify, will start slow, offering products themed with only a few hit shows and then add more and more. Netflix may intend to build out revenue streams to make money from the franchises it’s created. But it’s taken the company a while to reach this step, while Disney moved quickly to get into streaming video and has made it a success.
With a big market for entertainment-themed apparel and accessories, now Netflix goes large on e-commerce. Disney, which has both an online store and a brick-and-mortar store in New York City, gets the biggest piece of that pie. Part of the reason for that is the timelessness of legacy Disney content—you know, Mickey Mouse and Bambi. But Netflix believes hits like Tiger King and Stranger Things might have some staying power, too.