As women's retailer Chico's moves ahead with plans to shutter 250 of its stores, it's expanding another storefront.

Its Chico's branded microsite on Amazon.

The retailer says it sells around 2,300 styles through the e-commerce giant, nearly six times more than when it started selling last Summer, taking advantage of the online platform's enormous reach.

But embracing Amazon is not without risk for retailers, as Reuters Melissa Fares explains: (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) REUTERS CORRESPONDENT MELISSA FARES SAYING: "Big Brands like Land's End, Chico's, Nike, they are on Amazon because they feel like they have to be.

On the other hand, they understand the risks of selling on Amazon.

It's a competitor and Amazon has been taking a lot of steps in ramping up its private label apparel products.

Amazon's brands range from The Fix - for shoes to Lark & Ro for workwear.

It told Reuters its own labels serve as a supplement to what other brands already offer, giving its customers more choice.

But Amazon declined to say how many private clothing label brands it has and how fast its churning out new ones.

Though, according to TJI research, Amazon - at the start of this year - already had 109 of its own brands in clothing, shoes and jewelry , which is more than a five-fold increase in just two years.

The explosive growth has been supported by rich data it gathers from brands selling on its site.

Because of that some direct-to-consumer brands and retailers are still staying away.

The founder of upmarket swimwear brand Andie - for example - told Reuters that missing out on key insights like where customers are coming from and what they click on, is keeping her from selling on the platform.