Amazon's First-Ever Physical Clothing Store to Open in California Mall
Amazon, America's biggest online retailer, is planning to move inside a Southern California mall later this year and open a clothing store.
Amazon has been competing with malls in the past, and now it plans to move inside one. The online retail giant, which currently sells more than 10 percent of all clothing in the United States, is making its next move.
Amazon said Thursday that the store, called Amazon Style, will open at the Americana at Brand, a mall in Glendale, California, selling women's and men's clothing, as well as shoes and other accessories.
According to the Seattle-based company, shoppers will get tailored recommendations delivered to their phones, while browsing the new Amazon Style store largely stocked with non-Amazon fashion labels.
When a customer enters the Amazon Style store, they will be presented with a carefully curated selection of items.
Amazon Offers a New Shopping Experience
Using the Amazon Shopping app, shoppers can scan the QR code of an item to check the size, color, and total customer ratings.
Shoppers can then add these items to fitting rooms or sent them right to the pickup counter if they don't need to try them on. Prices will range from $10 to $400.
In the company's official blog post, Amazon Style managing director Simonia Vasen said: "Amazon Style entirely reimagines what's possible in the fitting room, turning it into a personalized area where customers may continue to shop a seemingly limitless closet of outstanding designs."
According to experts, Amazon's presence in malls could pose a new challenge to traditional clothes retailers due to the sheer data and shopper insights it may gain.
The store will be roughly 2,787 square meters (30,000 sq. ft.) in size, equivalent to Kohl's but smaller than Macy's and other department stores.
Amazon's Latest Experiment in Physical Retail
Amazon said it would offer more than double the selection of a regular fashion store since only one of each piece of clothing will be on display, with the rest in the back room.
Amazon curators will select items based on input from millions of customers who shop on Amazon.com. The store concept is expected to put greater pressure on traditional apparel retailers, especially department stores struggling to adapt to the pandemic's fast transition to online shopping.
Amazon has been opening grocery stores, cashier-less convenience stores, and bookstores in the past, but this is the company's most recent entry into physical storefronts.
Vasenhas yet to comment on the new store concept's rollout plans or sales estimates. Amazon did not also provide a specific date for the opening of the Glendale store.
With the help of the pandemic-induced e-commerce growth, Amazon overtook Walmart as the No. 1 retailer in clothes sales last year.
According to a report published by Wells Fargo in March 2021, Amazon's clothes and footwear sales in the U.S. increased by around 15 percent in 2020 to more than $41 billion. That is about a 20 percent to 25 percent increase over Walmart.
It is also about 11 percent to 12 percent of all apparel sold in the U.S. and a 34 percent to 35 percent share of all clothing sold online.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Jess Smith
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