The ever-growing giant known as Amazon, Jeff Bezos’s company whose ultimate aim, apparently, is world domination, has introduced a new feature sure to be loved by customers, and loathed by brick and mortar retail outlets, whose business models have been threatened — in some instances destroyed — by the juggernaut.
On Tuesday morning, Amazon 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, according to NY Times. 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 pre-printed shipping label that the order came in.
Prime Wardrobe 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. Amazon did not say when the service would become available.
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.
Feature Image: Jeff Bezos poses with wardrobe. (Credit: NYTimes)
Tags: Jeff Bezos
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