You Can Now Buy Clothes At Physical Amazon Stores?
Retail giant Amazon opened a brick and mortar clothing store unlike any other.
Amazon has been making a major push into bolstering its own clothing business for a while. It has its own Amazon-branded line of clothing products. The e-commerce giant also offers an online subscription option where users can order a certain number of clothes, try them on, send back what they don’t like, and keep what they do. It’s great that customers have these options, especially in a post-pandemic world where choices like these certainly mean something. However, when it comes down to it, more often than not, buying clothes in person is just better. Despite the overarching presence of Amazon’s entire business, it too has recognized this overt fact. As a result, Amazon has now started to open its own clothing stores.
Amazon is calling its fashion-minded stores Amazon Style. The first one of its kind, according to Gizmodo, recently opened its doors in Glendale, California. Upon entering the, at present, one-of-a-kind store, customers can expect to find everything they would typically see in a well-stocked clothing store. The store will vend both men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, and accessories. However, where Amazon really wants its style stores to not only stand out but shine, is in the shopping experience.
Amazon’s immense focus on technology and the utilization of it will be evident the minute one walks into an Amazon Style storefront. As one browses the store they can use their phones to scan pieces of clothing. Once scanned an individual can choose the size, style, and color that they want to try on and/or purchase. An Amazon Style employee will then be prompted to assist them and bring the chosen articles to either a fitting room or a checkout station. Through repeated shopping/scanning, because of machine learning, the store’s app will eventually start to recognize a person’s individual preferences and make recommendations based upon what it recognizes as a shopper walks through the store.
If everything goes according to Amazon’s plan, a person will essentially feel like they have a personal shopper attending to their needs. Whether or not it will actually present that way remains to be determined, but Amazon certainly deserves kudos for attempting something such as that. Furthermore, Amazon hopes that the checkout experience will be just as seamless as shopping through the store. Ideally, customers will pay with their Amazon One accounts that have been linked to their palms.
Also setting the store apart from other clothing outlets is the breadth of its selection. Simoina Vasen, who is the managing director of Amazon Style, told CNBC that the stores will be full of items designed to suit an array of budgets. “You’ll find everything from the $10 basic to the designer jeans to the $400 timeless piece,” said Vasen. This strategy is smart, by not alienating any income bracket, the store will then inherently attract more customers. All in all, Amazon really seems to have covered all of its bases with the introduction of its Style stores. It will certainly be interesting to see how successful that Glendale location becomes as well as whether or not Amazon decides to expand the brick-and-mortar side of its clothing business any further.
