The first Amazon Style store, located in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, Calif., will open its doors later this year, the company announced Thursday.
The store will feature women’s and men’s apparel, shoes, and accessories from a mix of well-known and emerging brands, with prices catering to a wide range of shoppers.
“You’ll find everything from the $10 basic to the designer jeans to the $400 timeless piece.
Simoina Vasen, managing directold CNBCtor of Amazon Style said. “We want to meet every budget and every price point.”
At roughly 30,000 square feet, the retail space is around the size of a typical T.J. Maxx location, but smaller than the average department store.
Amazon found early success with online apparel by selling a wide range of basics from popular brands and its own private labels. In recent years, it has moved upmarket by opening luxury online luxury fashion shops.
By launching its first Style store, Amazon could hook shoppers that might not have otherwise considered it as an apparel destination.
Amazon says it’s hoping to fix some of the pain points found in traditional retail stores, such as the fitting room, while cutting some of the clutter that can make sales floors look daunting and disorganized.
Shoppers will rely heavily on their smartphone in order to browse the store.
When shoppers walk into the store, they’ll see “display items,” featuring just one size and color of a particular product; the remaining inventory for each product will kept in the back of the store. After logging into the Amazon app on a smartphone, they’ll scan a QR code on the item to view additional sizes, colors, product ratings and other information, such as personalized recommendations for similar items.
“This allows us to offer more selection without requiring customers to sift through racks to find that right color, size and fit,” Vasen said.
After scanning the QR code on an item, shoppers can click a button in the Amazon app to add the item to a fitting room or send it to a pickup counter.
In the fitting rooms, Amazon has added touchscreen displays, which shoppers can use to rate items or request different styles or sizes to be delivered to their fitting room.
Each item is then dropped off in a “secure closet” in the fitting room, which unlocks after a store associate delivers the clothing. This allows customers to continue shopping without having to leave the fitting room and find an employee.
Like Amazon’s other physical retail concepts, the Amazon Style stores attempt to blend the company’s online and offline shopping experience. Vasen said shoppers will be able to access their in-store purchase history in the Amazon app.
But unlike Whole Foods stores, Vasen said the Style stores won’t offer any special discounts for Prime subscribers.
– CNBC