Amazon Fashion Launches a Personal Styling Service—Will Customers Actually Use It?
Today, Amazon Fashion is launching a new service for Prime members called Personal Shopper by Prime Wardrobe. The process begins with a survey the includes fit and trend preferences, with questions revolving around whether or not a customer likes certain prints (animal or stripes?), how they like to wear certain garments (do you dislike wearing sleeveless in the summer?), and exact measurements including general body shapes (long torso and large bust?).
The data is stored and passed along to one of Prime Wardrobe’s stylists who help to curate items based on the style profile. The customer has direct contact with the stylist via the Amazon App and can weigh in on the edit of brands and items created by their stylist. Up to eight pieces of clothing are included in a monthly box, which the customer has the chance to preview before it’s shipped (theoretically minimizing the amount of returns). There’s a seven-day try-on period, and Prime members only pay for what they keep. The remaining items can be shipped back in the resealable box that comes with a prepaid label.
The Personal Shopper service is $4.99 a month for Prime members; for now, it’s only available to women with a men’s service coming in the very near future. Brands already in the company’s roster include Theory, JBrand, Stuart Weitzman, and Loeffler Randall, plus thousands more. It’s a big step for Amazon Fashion, which has neglected to keep up with successful online fashion platforms that cater to the millennial and Gen-Z shoppers who want on-trend, engaging experiences, and older ones who prioritize quality and cool factor over convenience and affordability. But it’s not a first-of-its-kind offering. Stitch Fix, launched in 2011, is now valued at $2 billion. The Personal Shopper’s point of difference seems to be the ability to preview a box of clothes before it’s shipped.
If Amazon can put more in-depth data to work for customers and establish a more personal connection to the stylists themselves, then it could be successful in this already crowded digital retail space. Engagement is really key, and at yesterday’s breakfast celebrating the announcement of Personal Shopper, Amazon team members stressed their dedication to creating more original content (Amazon Fashion is launching a digital television channel through Prime video and with it, a designer competition series similar to Project Runway), bringing members of the fashion community into the fold, and putting more efforts towards social media marketing.
The company has just launched two additional fashion projects: One is called The Drop, in which brands will partner with various fashion influencers to design exclusive clothing collections, and the other is StyleSnap, an A.I. app that allows customers to take a photo of an item in a store, on the street, or on their iPhone or computer screen and click to find and buy it on Amazon. It should be noted that last year, the company surpassed Walmart as the most profitable clothing retailer in the U.S., with around $30 billion in revenue. The company has certainly changed the way the world shops for everyday items, so perhaps, with more innovation, it can do the same for fashion.
Originally Appeared on Vogue
