Amazon is changing the way customers shop for clothes. By the end of January, the retail giant will retire its popular “Try Before You Buy” program in favor of AI-driven solutions that promise to make finding the perfect fit faster and easier.
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From Dressing Rooms to AI Tools
Launched in 2017 as Prime Wardrobe, the Try Before You Buy program allowed customers to try up to six clothing items at home before committing to a purchase. While the program became a hit for its convenience, Amazon believes its AI-powered features can offer a better solution.
“Given the combination of Try Before You Buy only scaling to a limited number of items and customers increasingly using our new AI-powered features… we’re phasing out the Try Before You Buy option,” said Amazon in an official statement.
These AI tools include:
- Virtual Try-On: An augmented reality feature that allows users to visualize how shoes, glasses, or makeup will look without leaving home.
- Personalized Size Recommendations: AI analyzes purchase history, return patterns, and customer reviews to predict the perfect size.
- Rufus AI Chatbot: A conversational assistant that offers style suggestions and answers customer queries.
We have been seeing a lot of e-commerce platforms, using AI to help shoppers decide better on what they like and don’t like, but for Amazon to introduce features that will allow you to virtually try on clothes before buying them, well, this is something truly next level, and will surely become the standard for other platforms to emulate.
Now, is this something totally new? Not exactly. There are a few online shopping platforms that have been offering features like this in smaller spaces, like sunglasses, or shoes, but not a lot of them have ventured into something as tailored or in depth as this.
Obviously, there are lot off upsides to this technology, but will it fully replace the whole in-store experience? Only time will tell.
