What They Say
Amazon is planning to open a high-tech apparel store in California in 2022. The location is The Americana at Brand shopping mall in Glendale and it will be called the Amazon Style store.
The idea is that there will be a single display item for each piece of clothing and customers can use QR codes to check stock, sizes and alternative colours as well as seeing customer ratings. Inventory will be away from the shop floor and is brought on demand to counters or fitting rooms. The fitting rooms will be fitted with touch displays to order alternate items or offer reviews. Checkout will be via the Amazon app and a palm-scanning payment system.
CNBC reported last year that Amazon is a bigger apparel retailer in the US than Walmart and is now the largest in the US.
What We Think
Amazon is playing around with a lot of retailing and, of course, owns the Whole Foods operation in the US. I can see the advantages of the kind of clothing store although previous discussions I have had with HP have highlighted the challenges of getting accurate colour in the touch displays in this kind of installation. I also spent some time talking to a firm in the MWC start-ups area three or four years ago that explained that the biggest challenge in going digital in fashion is the time and cost to create the imagery for the system. Of course, it claimed to have a solution to that problem.
I profess that I never go clothes shopping, buying online from one retailer for the last few years, with an occasional store visit to the same one. (BR)
