Amazon Opening Brick-and-mortar Fashion Store

Amazon is taking its style physical.

The web giant, which has been looking for the right format for both fashion generally and brick-and-mortar retailing, said it will launch its first physical store devoted to apparel.

Amazon Style will open later this year at The Americana at Brand in Los Angeles, said Simoina Vasen, managing director of Amazon Style, in a blog post.

The store will sell women’s and men’s apparel, shoes and accessories, with an approach that is both high tech and hyper focused on personalization.

“Amazon Style brings together the best of shopping on Amazon — great prices, selection and convenience — with an all-new in-store shopping experience built to inspire,” Vasen said. “Customers can browse brands they know and love while also discovering new and emerging designers across hundreds of top brands throughout the store. Using the Amazon Shopping app, customers can send items to a fitting room, where they can use a touchscreen to browse more options, rate items and request more sizes or styles that are delivered directly to their room within minutes.”

While the e-commerce leader has fully automated convenience stores with Amazon Go, the style concept will use a mix of technology and a personal touch.

Amazon said employees in the store would help shoppers find looks while also delivering items to fitting rooms, helping with check out and managing back of store operations.

But the emphasis seems to be on the power of technology to help deliver the personalized experience.

Vasen said, “Using the Amazon Shopping app, customers simply scan an item’s QR code to see sizes, colors, overall customer ratings and additional product details. With the tap of a button, shoppers can add the item to a fitting room or, if they don’t need to try it on, send it directly to the pickup counter.”

Customers will be able to continue to shop while they’re in the fitting room and get more looks delivered to them. And Amazon’s machine-learning algorithms will also give shoppers real-time personalized recommendations, which can be refined if shoppers choose to share their style and fit preferences.

“Personal styling used to be expensive and feel exclusive, but with Amazon Style’s sophisticated technology, unique store design and thoughtful curation, we’ve made it easier than ever for customers to discover items they’ll look and feel great in,” Vasen said.

MORE FROM WWD:

Omicron Hits Retail Sales Reports, Threatening Sales and Profits

Jaanuu Scores $75 Million Eurazeo Investment

ThredUp Names HR Expert Coretha Rushing to Board