Amazon to open clothing store with algorithm-based fashion advice

E-commerce giant Amazon plans to open a physical fashion store where algorithms will suggest what customers should try on. The first trial store, ‘Amazon Style’, would be located in California. Of course, (almost) everything will happen through an app.

Amazon Style

Amazon’s first physical fashion store is nearly 2,800 sq m and will be located in the Los Angeles area. Like regular fashion stores, the clothing is displayed on shelves, but customers have to scan a code using the Amazon app to pick the colour and size they wish to try on. Shoppers then enter a virtual queue for the fitting rooms, which they can unlock via their smartphones.

Once inside the fitting rooms, shoppers can continue shopping undisturbed by requesting new items from in-store staff. The garments get delivered via a secure, two-sided cabinet. Touchscreens inside the fitting area also provide shoppers with more suggestions to try on. Amazon keeps track of every item a customer scans so that its algorithms can personalise the recommendations.

Upon entering the store, customers can also fill out a style survey. By the time the customer has arrived at a fitting room, in-store staff will have laid out the desired items – both garments chosen by the customer and items selected by Amazon.

It seems that the e-commerce giant has chosen the fashion industry as its next target to “disrupt”. Earlier, Amazon sparked a revolution in the supermarket sector by introducing its till-less stores. “We wouldn’t do anything in physical retail unless we felt we could significantly improve the customer experience“, Charged Retail quoted Simoina Vasen, Amazon managing director.