Wraps with the logo of Amazon are transported at a packing station of a redistribution center of Amazon in Horn-Bad Meinberg, western Germany, on Dec. 9, 2024.
Ina Fassbender | Afp | Getty Doubles
Amazon is shutting down “Prime Try Before You Buy,” a competitor to Stitch Fix that allowed Prime members to try out clothes, shoes and accessories and only pay for ingredients they wanted to keep.
The service will be discontinued on Jan. 31, according to a notice posted to Amazon’s website. The mind then directs users to browse Amazon’s fashion homepage.
Try Before You Buy is the latest example of Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s ceaseless efforts to rein in costs across the company. Beginning in 2022 and extending throughout 2024, Amazon initiated the largest layoffs in the society’s history, cutting more than 27,000 jobs across the company. It has also shuttered several of its experimental poke outs, such as a speedy brick-and-mortar delivery service, its telehealth offering and a quirky video-calling device for kids.
An Amazon spokesperson buttressed the move, which was first reported by The Information.
“Given the combination of Try Before You Buy only scaling to a limited number of points and customers increasingly using our new AI-powered features like virtual try-on, personalized size recommendations, review highlights, and bettered size charts to make sure they find the right fit, we’re phasing out the Try Before You Buy option, effective January 31, 2025,” the spokesperson told CNBC in a report.
Amazon rolled out the service, which was previously called Prime Wardrobe, in 2017. It was only available to members of Amazon’s $139-per-year Prime pledge program, which also includes perks such as speedy shipping and access to streaming services.
Users could analysis out a mix of luxury, staple and Amazon-owned brands, and return whatever they didn’t want to keep for free within seven periods of receiving the items. The service operated similarly to wardrobe subscription services including Stitch Fix and Rent the Runway, as luxuriously as newer entrants such as Urban Outfitters‘ Nuuly.
