This year will see Amazon launch its first ever physical clothing store. The location will open in Los Angeles later in 2022 and it marks a significant shift in how the ecommerce giant is diversifying its operations. But will it be enough to help Amazon regain its past successes after what proved to be a tricky 2021?
The real-world apparel store will be called Amazon Style and it will be located in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale. While the ecommerce giant has previously opened retail outlets that sell goods ranging from groceries to books, it marks the first time that Amazon has used a physical location to sell clothes.
The focal point of Amazon Style will be to introduce a wide range of clothing and shoes from well-known as well as up-and-coming designers at an affordable price point. It will feature both women’s and men’s clothing and is expected to be 30,000 square feet in size.
Naturally, it will be a technology focused store that will see customers using their smartphones to browse items. This means that only one item of a product will be displayed and that customers will then have to scan a QR code and browse on their device to see what other sizes and color are available. From here, customers will be able to checkout using the Amazon One palm-scanning checkout format. All of which should make for a suitably futuristic clothes shopping experience.
Amazon’s moves into the physical world
For a brand synonymous with the internet revolution, Amazon has shown itself to be evermore keen to have a physical presence in our world. The brand first opened its own bookstore in 2015, and has since launched a variety of retail experiments ranging from a chain of supermarkets to simple convenience stores and luxury fashion boutiques.
However, the biggest change came when Amazon orchestrated a takeover of the health food retailer Whole Foods for over $13 billion in 2017. While Amazon’s new physical clothing venture might not match the scale of that acquisition, it still marks an interesting new direction from the tech giant.
After all, Amazon recently knocked Walmart off the top-spot in terms of US clothing sales, and this latest move could be seen as some kind of real-world victory lap. With more than $41 billion earned from apparel sales, Amazon has quietly become the nation’s clothing retailer of choice.
It’s all good news for a brand that had a tougher than expected 2021. With overall deceleration of growth combined with rising labor costs, it was little wonder that Amazon would suffer from a decrease in profitability.
However, Amazon has been hard at work in improving its command of the ecommerce sector in the US and beyond. With a massive spend on infrastructure, hopes are high that Amazon should be able to deliver a stronger multi-year profitability.
