亞馬遜強攻時尚：免費試穿7天 | Amazon Will Let Customers Try On Clothes Before Buying

亞馬遜強攻時尚：免費試穿7天 | Amazon Will Let Customers Try On Clothes Before Buying

亞馬遜強攻時尚：免費試穿7天

亞馬遜搶攻時尚業再下一城！它在周二針對會員推出免費試穿服務，企圖透過此舉在百貨零售業者主導的時尚市場攻城掠地。然而這項做法，也讓不敵網購業者競爭而陷入苦撐的美國零售業者再遭重擊！

目前正積極進軍時尚市場的亞馬遜，周二宣布將對Prime會員推出一項新服務Prime Wardrobe。它讓會員可在網站上挑選3件或更多符合條件的衣服在家試穿7天，之後可把不要的產品免費寄回。

這些可試穿的服飾與配件共超過百萬件，其中不乏有凱文克萊與Hugo Boss等在百貨公司才看到的知名品牌。

顧客在試穿期間並無需為商品付費，若試穿後決定購買，最多還可享有8折優惠。

AlixPartners顧問公司零售業部門負責人賓斯（Joel Bines）指稱「這項服務對傳統零售廠商是當頭棒喝，因為試衣間向來是實體商家與網購業者的最大區隔」。

美國百貨業者例如梅西等，先前為拓展客源也提供網購服務，但它與亞馬遜的最大差異，在於雖願意提供顧客相當慷慨的產品退回政策，但顧客在決定購買前並無法試穿，這也多少阻礙憂心尺寸不合的顧客在網路購買的意願。

至於部分線上新創業者像是Stitch Fix雖然推出試穿服務，不過門檻也相對拉高，像是顧客必須支付試穿費用20美元，而且試穿時間只有3天。

亞馬遜這次大手筆推出免費試穿服務，也凸顯它對拓展時尚市場的強烈企圖心。專家指出，對網路零售業者而言，服飾向來是個難度高與成本大的領域，某些產品的退貨率可達4成。

賓斯指出，雖然亞馬遜在其他領域獲得成功，但服飾行業卻仍是它必須克服的一大挑戰，主要是相對傳統零售業者依賴直覺為消費者挑選商品，亞馬遜什麼都有的選擇，卻使部分顧客無所適從，在服飾業反成不利因素。

新聞來源：工商時報

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Amazon Will Let Customers Try On Clothes Before Buying

For many people, buying clothing online is not worth the hassle of getting a pair of pants or a shirt that does not fit. Many retailers have sought to eliminate that risk by offering free returns on clothing, but now Amazon is going even further.

On Tuesday morning, the company revealed a new program called Prime Wardrobe that allows people to order clothing — from three to 15 items at a time — without actually buying it. Amazon will charge them only for the items they keep. Customers can return the items they don’t want in a resealable box with the preprinted shipping label that the order came in.

The service will be an option only for members of Amazon Prime, the company’s membership service, which, for $99 a year, gives customers fast shipping at no extra charge, a streaming video service and other benefits. The company did not say when Prime Wardrobe would be available.

It is hard to predict what impact this will have on the company’s clothing sales, but it follows a pattern at Amazon of eliminating so-called friction points to online shopping that have made it surprisingly successful in the apparel category.

By the end of this year, analysts expect that Amazon will become the largest apparel retailer in the United States, at a time when many traditional brick-and-mortar retailers are closing stores or filing for bankruptcy.

And retailers received a new reason to worry about Amazon’s ambitions in recent days after the company announced it had agreed to acquire Whole Foods, the high-end grocery chain, for $13.4 billion.

Amazon isn’t the first online company to offer a try-before-you-buy program. The eyewear retailer Warby Parker has long let customers try on up to five pairs of glasses at home for as long as five days, with no obligation to buy any of them.

Another online clothing retailer, Stitch Fix, offers a similar home try-on service. To use it, customers must pay a nonrefundable $20 “styling fee” through which they receive personalized clothing recommendations. The fee can be applied as a credit toward any items the customer buys.

Prime Wardrobe will let customers try on more than a million items of clothing, accessories and shoes from brands including Calvin Klein, Levi’s, Adidas, Hugo Boss and Lacoste without buying them. Customers will then have seven days to return the items they don’t want.

Earlier this year, JackThreads, an apparel start-up that also allowed people to try on clothing at home, shut down.

Previously, Amazon has tried to make its customers more comfortable with shopping for clothing online by offering free shipping on returns of most apparel. This allowed customers to buy clothing and receive refunds for any items they returned.

Free shipping on returns can easily erode the profits of an online retailer if customers use the option often, but Amazon can ease the sting somewhat because it also collects fees from its Prime members.

With Prime Wardrobe, Amazon will actually discourage clothing returns in a subtle way. The retailer will cut 10 percent off the purchase price of an order for anyone who keeps three to four items, and 20 percent off for anyone who keeps five or more items.

Original Article: The New York Times