E-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) is opening a new chain of retail clothing stores.
The first “Amazon Style” store, to be located in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, California, will open later this year, the company has announced.
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.
At roughly 30,000 square feet, the retail space is smaller than the average department store.
The new store concept marks Amazon’s latest experiment in retail. The company began entering the retail space when it opened a bookstore in 2015, then acquired upscale grocer Whole Foods for $13.7 billion U.S. in 2017.
Since then, Amazon has launched a number of other retail formats, including grab-and-go convenience outlets, stores that feature top-selling items online, and even an Amazon branded supermarket chain.
Amazon has spent years growing its share of apparel sales. Last year, Amazon surpassed Walmart (WMT) as the number one apparel retailer in the U.S. with its apparel and footwear sales growing by approximately 15% to more than $41 billion U.S.
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 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 be 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.
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.
