Amazon launches physical clothing store with high-tech fitting rooms

Amazon has experimented with physical retail formats in grocery and books, but it has never sold clothing or shoes at those stores. After upending brick-and-mortar retail, Amazon is opening a clothing store in the physical world.

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 personalised 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. 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, Amazon said.