Coming more than full circle in its disruption of retail, Amazon is wading into the world of brick-and-mortar clothing stores with a 30,000-square foot shop in an upscale mall in suburban Los Angeles.
Amazon Style promises to leverage the e-commerce giant’s tech prowess and depth of data to give consumers a “seamless and elevated shopping experience,” the Seattle-based company announced Thursday in a blog post. Shoppers will use QR codes to see various sizes, colors and product ratings and will be able to send clothes to the fitting room or checkout counter with the touch of a button. Touch screens in fitting rooms will let shoppers request more items without having to leave.
After the industry endured years of store closures and the pandemic set off flurries of big-name bankruptcies and pushed online shopping to new heights, Amazon and other brands are reconsidering the value of physical stores. More than 5,080 new stores opened across the country last year, barely edging out the number that shuttered for the first time in five years according to Coresight Research. And PricewaterhouseCooper’s annual consumer survey found that in-store shopping recovered to pre-pandemic levels, with roughly half of customers saying they shopped in-person on a daily or weekly basis.
After trying out physical bookstores, convenience stores and groceries without major success, it makes sense that Amazon is turning to fashion: In 2020, Amazon eclipsed Walmart to become the nation’s top-selling apparel retailer, according to research from Wells Fargo. Amazon does not break out apparel sales in its financials, but Wells Fargo projected that its U.S. apparel and footwear revenues would surpass $45 in 2021.
(Amazon’s founder and executive chair, Jeff Bezos, owns The Washington Post.)
Despite claiming the top slot, Amazon has yet to achieve the kind of dominance it desires in fashion, according to Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail. Consumers’ preference for clothes shopping in-person has disadvantaged Amazon.
The new store is an “experiment,” Saunders said, to determine whether it can broaden its customer base, capture some share from physical retailers and learn more about buying behavior. Aside from its more than 500 Whole Foods locations, Amazon is currently investing in about 90 stores across the country under such banners as Amazon Books and Amazon Fresh, according to the National Retail Federation.
Regardless of whether Amazon rolls out more stores nationally, the foray “should worry other apparel retailers, especially department stores,” Saunders said in an email, because it’s yet another competitor entering a crowded space. “And this one has a lot of data on customer preferences and needs.”
Still, Saunders said, Amazon’s success will hinge on execution, and the Seattle-based giant has struggled in the past to create compelling in-store experiences. In fashion, Amazon will need to “think very carefully” about curation and personal service.
So far, it seems that Amazon Style is leaning into tech and endeavoring to “reimagine” physical retail rather than harness the power of tactile shopping. Most inventory will be kept in the back, with just a single version of each item displayed on the floor; customers will request items and guide their experience through the Amazon Shopping app, which uses the same technology the company’s fullfilment centers. But the store will still be staffed by employees who will focus on customer service, from delivering clothes to managing checkout.
The store, which is coming to The Americana at Brand in Glendale, Calif., sometime later this year, wants to be a destination for all shoppers, harnessing the power of Amazon’s sprawling fulfillment network and real-time shopping recommendations to offer a steady stream of new merchandise.
“You’ll find everything from the $10 basic to the designer jeans to the $400 timeless piece,” Simoina Vasen, managing director of Amazon Style, told CNBC. “We want to meet every budget and every price point.”
Taylor Telford, The Washington Post
Looking for more retail coverage? Click here to read all retail news and updates. Click here to subscribe to D-FW Retail and more newsletters from The Dallas Morning News.
