As someone who worked at one of the Amazon Book stores before they decided to just. Shut us down. With 2 weeks notice. And being told it's because they wanted to focus on Amazon Style. I am pleased that it is not good :)
holy crap that SUCKS. That should not be allowed especially from a labor rights perspective. There should have at least been a month or two months' notice with a big all hands-on meeting to explain what is going on so you could at least have another job lined up or just something to prepare. I hope you were able to find work elsewhere or at least they moved you all to another project within Amazon. Did they just lay off everyone?
@@idontevenknow9758 How it worked was they told us on a 5 minute company wide conference call that we were closing our doors. Got 2 weeks notice of when closing date would be for stores, then we had 2 more weeks to close up shop. I’m not allowed to talk about the severance pay because had to sign that away but they did pay us. But basically, we got the call, stores were closed within 2 weeks.
I'm not surprised that the employees didn't know the answer to your questions. They're just average employees at a not average store. Like I work retail and have no idea who decides who chooses the brands in the store, that's not a normal thing for cashiers to know.
actually with a new company like that, its common to teach employees a lot of more in depth info about the company due to it being a grand opening. i would expect them to teach people things, expecting journalists to come and ask questions.
Yeah like I work at target and we don’t know about collabs or new brands until they happen lol I have no clue how collaborations happen or what kind of profit split there is or anything. And I feel like a mega corporation like Amazon isn’t going to care enough to tell their bottom rung sales associates about that either
@@jasminelambert3753 jeah but target an old people brand this is amazon busting out whats essentially s japanese style popup shop ud think with influencers and current year argument you would at least tell them a bit more to keep the hype going
kind of twisted that Amazon & Prime have really defined and changed the landscape of online shopping, have done everything they can to move people from shopping in local physical stores to buying everything online, and now they're.... opening physical stores. wtf
This is exactly why I almost exclusively buy my clothes from Hot Topic. I know my size and that my fandom merch will be there. On the rare occasion that I did buy through the website, it was all shirts except for one pair of stretch pants. The pants weren't in my exact size so I went with one size smaller. They fit okay, it's just pretty tight and difficult to get on/off, so I sadly don't wear them very often. I grew up wearing bottoms that sit at the natural waistline rather than the hips, so that can cause a bit of difficulty. I'll buy stuff from other retailers if I happen to see something I like but it's pretty rare.
Aren't Amazon suggestions famously terrible? Isn't it the same algorithm they have for their online purchases where they advertise flashlights to you relentlessly after you buy one like you're not just someone who needed 1 flashlight but you're some flashlight enthusiasts who has to buy every single flashlight and sign up for a monthly subscription of the exact same flashlight for a small discount every month 😮💨
The "rebuy" (don't know what it is officially called in English) section is terrible. "It has been roughly 1 week since you bought Monopoly; do you want a second copy of it???? Do you need a refill on that CD you bought? A whole 3 days have gone by, so you might need a second one."
The way i would never ever undress in an Amazon fitting room because I am cynical enough to think there’s some hidden clause that allows full body scans and memory backup just because I wanna try a tank top. Absolutely not lmfao
Asking questions, explaining yourself, and being curious is NOT being annoying! Being curious is a massive asset. Journalists, reporters, scientists, etc. all use questions to further their understanding and find the answer to the central "why." Girl, do not bring yourself down because other people don't ask questions. We need both people in this world!
Yeah I don't get why people are annoyed in the top comment that she was asking these questions like..... I'm sorry but when your entire store is a gimmick like this you should probably at least give the employees a basic, even VAGUE is fine, scripted answer? like I honestly would personally expect the store workers to have some stupid thing they're told to recite if someone asks because this store is supposed to be like amazon irl, not a physical store we're familiar with since we know amazon works as a middle man in terms of retail, it's not like forever 21 where we know the clothes are from, well, forever 21 and not some random name on amazon we've probably never tried before. like seriously, 'we source the products according to amazon metrics that say what is purchased most' is more than easy enough to tell your employees to say and that took me ten seconds to write.
There's a store here in the UK called Argos that sells loads of random homeware and technology and stuff but the gimmick is that there's nothing out on the shop floor, you have to look through a catalogue to choose what you want and then when you place your order at the front desk it appears through a chute from the store room. This kinda sounds like that but for clothes.
my mum used to give us the argos catalogue and choose 15 things (so she could narrow it down to what she was willing to buy) including the product code for christmas and birthdays 😂 she had it sussed
every time there was a new argos catalogue i would go through and circle everything i wanted, i don’t think my parents ever got me any of those things though
it definitely seems a bit dystopian to me. in general, brick and mortar stores don't need algorithms. if i'm going into a store, i'm either browsing or i know what i want. i dont need all this bullshit technology heaped onto an already simple, straightforward experience
That’s what I’m thinking. Shopping is already alienating enough, the cyberpunk of this all is just pushing it over the edge. I’m also just imagining what it must be like to work at a place like this. The employees are still retail employees, but they are just operating on the back end and not interacting with any customer. Like imagine working a 9 hour retail shift where you just deliver clothes into closets with names on the doors, without ever seeing who’s behind the doors. That sounds like a nightmare even as a current retail employee
I think the niche for such a weird store is if they had every size of the clothes to try on to try to minimize returns and to minimize human contact. If the app lets you know when to go into the dressing room etc I think there should be very minimal human interaction.
@@xandermin the display is a medium but then they bring you the correct size to your room, you don’t grab items from the sales floor to bring to your room. The app will tell you if they have the item in your size when you scan it in the store
I also find it weird that they don’t have anything to help you get the correct size. Like, if I were Amazon setting up this store, I would make it a major feature that we’ll have someone who will professionally size you and then upload your measurements to your account so that Amazon can 100% guarantee that they’ll find the right size for you. That would be a game changer and would make shopping with them genuinely appealing - shopping with new brands always sucks bc the sizing always varies a bit, but imagine if you could go in there and get measured and you had a 30 inch waist, so they used that data when finding you your sizes and said “Ok, for brand X, their small has a 30 inch waist, but for brand Y it’s a medium, so we’ll get you a small from X and a medium from Y”. Especially for a store carrying multiple brands, that would be genuinely amazing. Like, I would go out of my way to shop at an Amazon Style store if I could just walk in, find the clothes that I like, add them to a little list, and then when I go to try stuff on they’ve got everything in the actual best size for me - not having to worry about accounting for sizing differences between brands would be huge.
I am plus size which means it’s up to the individual stores to order plus size or extended sizes of clothes. Some stores, like Old Navy, have said that a limited amount of stores would carry plus size; and if your local store doesn’t, we’ll you have to shop online. All this to say that I would hate going to this shop and finding out that the clothing I’m interested in doesn’t have a size I can try on. If I can at least try it on, then I could make a decision to order it. But I don’t want to order two of the sizes and then have to return the one that doesn’t fit. That’s a lot more money out of my pocket than Amazon’s.
I think I read somewhere that the only point of amazon creating physical stores is to put their physical competitors out of business, which does kinda fit in with the bookstores only being open for a couple of weeks...
Tbh I think it is a smart idea to have a store like this with a few samples of lots of sizes so the store will never run out of any size. Then you order the clothes and sizes you liked for delivery. I was shopping for pants the other day, and most of what I could find was either above or below my size, so I ended up buying nothing because there was nothing in my size to even try on. This would minimize that problem. I just hate that it's amazon
I love that me and Swell have the same perception about marketing I don't care THAT I'm being marketed to, thats just business. I care when they're doing a terrible job at marketing to me. Like what am I giving you my metadata for?
@@tokyoyoongi5538 But what if your name isn’t ordinary though. I am 99.9% that nobody else has my name (extremely rare African surname + unusual first name from a completely different culture). I just don’t like the thought of strangers being able to find out information about me so extremely easily.
@@tokyoyoongi5538 i personally have a problem with it because my legal name doesn't match the name i use whatsoever. being deadnamed irl just because my debit card and paypal have to use it legally is not a pleasant concept for me
after working as a vendor at Amazon buildings for nearly a year I'm not surprised in the slightest that the manager didn't know how that worked. Amazon keeps certain info close to the vest or on a need to know basis. Amazon also has a practice of teams getting siloed and not communication with each other despite working on the same project. It's honestly amazing anything gets done there.
Mmm, honestly that experience sounds... very much not for me. Having to be constantly hooked into an app while I'm at the store, the weird two-sided wardrobe that feels like something is being passed out of a decontamination chamber, the complete lack of transparency on profit splitting and selection criteria... it feels very ghoulish. All the disconnection and depersonalisation of shopping online, with the inconvenience and awkwardness of shopping physical retail, with none of the good points of either. Only makes it worse that Bezos has his grimy paws on it, making me suspicious of the motives. What gives, Jeff? You need to crush another industry under your shitty little thumb to fill the hole in your heart your wife left? Call me cynical but I just can't trust there's any tangible benefit to this awful new model for anyone but Amazon's board of directors.
Don't put it all on Bezos. It makes it seem like this wasn't a thing done between the board and executives. It's trying to put it all on the figure head that makes other idiots believe Elon Musk invented the Tesla electric vehicle. There's a number of stupid scummy people at the top of corporations at this size. And shareholders in their thousands who expect "innovation" and growth. Who put the board and executives in a position to take on debt and do stupid shit like this. Capitalism is a model that requires stupid ideas to be sold as "the next big thing."
As for how brands and products get chosen, that's a completely separate position from the manager. Still not sure how applications or whatnot work in Amazons case, but it would be under the jurisdiction of a Purchasing Officer or Purchasing Agent. With some retailers I've heard of them working in the corporate office, others are also in charge of stock and work in the back. Some Purchasing Officers are more freelance and just do contracts before moving on. I have seen the Store Manager do some of this work (more of looking over purchase orders and submitting it, rather then curating it), but for Amazon it makes sense that it would be much more segmented and why the manager didn't know anything. Hopefully that helps even though it doesn't answer your question.
Unfortunately half the internet is powered by Amazon Web Services. Bezos has his greasy hands on all of our wallets; you can't escape the all consuming machine that is end-stage capitalism
I really felt your jean rant at the end of the video. Denim has caused a lot of negative emotions for me, and honestly, I gave up on jeans a long time ago. They're just not for me.
Hello! I currently work as a Buyer, and for a brand like Amazon Fashion it's the job of the Buyer to decide which brands go into each door! All multi brand retailers like Target, Nordstrom, etc. all have buyers that choose which brands will go into each department and store based off of factors like popularity, best fit for the region/local demographic, current selling trends, price range, etc. So to answer your question, Buyers choose which brands go into stores. :) Hope that helps!
I appreciate you doing this video. HopeScope also visited this store a week or two ago and her review was super positive, so it's nice to have a more realistic review of what might become the future of retail shopping.
the only good thing here is less shoplifting. *everything else sucks for everyone:* - the workers have to constantly run around to grab different pieces and bring them to each changing room: it's probably really overwhelming. i can already see them messing up / taking too long and being yelled at by a karen - you have to walk around with your phone in hand (annoying) - you can't look at bigger / smaller sizes unless you're in a fitting room, which is also not great. my tops literally range from XS to XL. id want to look at the sizes :| - having to constantly talk to the employers would make me super anxious straight up - mixing brands means you'll have to look at every price tag to make sure it's something affordable and not a 300$ piece in the middle of a bunch of 20$ stuff
is it really less shoplifting, though? The employees are scurrying between the warehouse and the fitting rooms, and if the qr codes are on the item hangers then there's no rfid tags or door alarms. kinda seems like you could make off with a couple of display pieces if you're careful
I began watching this out of curiosity. As it continued, I felt uncomfortable, then anxìous. Nearing the end, I was creeped out. I could ìmagine this store in a dystopia novel.
I don't think doing online for clothes, specially, will ever be the norm. Clothes always fit weird/different and need to be tried on. It's too much of a hassle right now to send something back and find something else
There was a customer who clotheslined an attempted shoplifter at the urban outfitters where I used to work and it's like... that's badass but not worth it for overpriced clothes from a shitty company you don't even work for
I know it’s been three months, but I figured SOMEONE should’ve responded by this point. Getting clotheslined means getting hit at the chest or head level while running and falling as a result.@@crazyowlgirlcncowner
I almost never go shopping but I actually like the idea of this. Just seeing something I like. And it ends up in a dressing room with the right size? Sounds like it would save me time and stress.
I'm so with you on jeans. As a plus size person, its a damn nightmare to even find clothing in my size range and I've basically given up on in store shopping so I'd probably pass on the amazon store. Thanks for reporting!
TH-cam just had me take a survey about the quality of your comment. I rated it well, but figured you might want to know. It's really weird that this is a thing they do now
Problem I have with Amazon there is way too many duplicates of the same item from different sellers and I struggle to narrow down to the best one/original one...
there are some parts to this store that i think are really cool, but the experience as a whole and the motives of the company come off as so dystopian that it really sours the parts that are neat
This is basically my feelings on it, I really like the idea of specifically like the fitting room, but otherwise there’s some things I’m really mixed about
As much as I hate amazon, I think if they just had their ai analyze this comment section they could make an actually ok shopping experience (at least at these weird hybrid stores). Do I think they'd ever care enough to do so, no; but there are positives to this that I would like if only some of the negatives were fixed like making it an optional choice in app at the store (I don't know how that would work but still) whether they talked to you at all while in the changing rooms (I would also probably be creeped out by them talking too).
@@lillithmain3431 yeah that too. Like if someone likes Nike already recommended Nike. Though she did say she doesn't order much from Amazon, so maybe thats why the selection was so basic
As someone who’s worked in clothing retail but didn’t think much of it at the time, I find it really interesting to consider all the logistics that go in to an Amazon store and the data they can collect from certain clothing items being scanned more often. The store I worked at didn’t really place any sort of… importance on what clothes are selling better (we had several different styles of “girl” and each section was named for that style: i.e., BoHo girl, punk girl, girly girl) and how that affects the layout, but it sounds like Amazon will consider that heavily moving forward.
You make an excellent point about the data they're collecting. There's so much power in just the most minimal of someone buying 3 shirts and then Amazon looking at with those 3 shirts have in common.
I’m really impressed with the fitting room. I liked how you can easily review your items on a screen. Also, how they were putting the items into the closet for you. And you could pay from your phone off the app. And the overall setup of the fitting room. They were nice. Wish all stores starting going to this format.
Usually at most stores/companies a corporate buyer that works for the company chooses which brands to carry in the store. They pay the company for the pieces beforehand so the small business already got the money whether you purchase the items or not. It looks great if the brand gets purchased by the consumer a lot though so that the store will continue to buy from them. Hopefully that made sense! I'm not sure if this is how the Amazon stores are doing it, but I'd my guess based on what other stores do.
also you deserve a veteran's discount for working retail... at a children's store... in one of the world's biggest malls(?). That sounds like the 10th circle of hell. lmao I salute you for your service. 🫡
I am not a fan of the setup where there are only samples on the floor and you have to wait for them to bring you the ones you’re going to buy. Glossier does that too, and you end up sitting around and waiting for your order forever if they’re busy.
I will say maybe for accessibility this is kind of cool, like if you have limited mobility it's kind of cool for things to be delivered to the room - I wonder if you could just look at things on the app and kind of just chill in or by the dressing room to try stuff on. If things had better audio descriptions on the app that would also be cool for blind people, and then the stuff could be BROUGHT to the room and you can feel the piece and decide if it's right for you and if not they just take it - don't have to go back and fourth trying to find the right sizes. It would need some work but they should definitely lean into this
The thing with Amazon is that the method for choosing the brands might include a lot of analysis on what clothes people living in the area buy from the website. Or it might be some really fancy data driven thing for finding the perfect set of brands and styles that they want to keep a secret. In either case, I don't think it's super necessary to teach the people selling the clothes how they ended up with the selection. (Amazon is generally a very data analysis oriented company. Very useful if you have a bunch of fulfillment centers and for each of them you want to find a balance of neither running out or having unnecessarily high stock of a big number of items whose demand can depend on multiple factors. Like for example swimwear or humidifiers whose demand varies by geography and seasons.)
I used to find really awesome clothing options on Amazon, but now everything is from the same Chinese factory, made from the same shitty polyester fabric, and is 2 sizes too short. What drives me more crazy is that now most other women’s clothing options online sell the same exact shit, but for twice as much money. The one that blows my mind is Altered State, their dresses are minimum $70 and they’re soooo cheaply made!!
I’ll say this having worked retail, blue is like the predominant colour. Blue is like the number one colour of clothing after white, black and grey which I don’t count as colours. It’s literally blue, and especially in menswear, it’s mostly blue.
No one at that store is going to know those questions. What they know is what corporate tells them and they’re going to, at the most, get a list of items they’re selling and how to reorder them. They are not going to be told who gets paid for those items. Not even the manager. You want that answer- ask Amazon corporate.
would absolutely never ever ever buy clothes from Amazon, but i do like the idea of sending clothes to a room to be tried on... the app would be annoying tho
@@memali2939 Also I think there's nothing stopping you from logging out of your account after you go in. You can probably pocket at least something if you're clever
I'm not surprised that the manager couldn't or wouldn't answer your questions. I don't work for amazon but I do work retail and customers ask me questions that I can't answer or that I'm told not to answer all the time
I probably already know the answer, but did they have bigger sizes than XL? That's what I would like to know. It is funny that Amazon has been the poster child of replacing physical stores but they're going back to where it all started BY opening a store lol
If the whole shtick is that the items are there to just try on and buy later then there's absolutely no reason to have one of every size of every item. While medium is still slightly better than them only having xs/s or only mannequin sizes, having a medium will end up alienating a vast majority of shoppers. Any interest I may have felt going into this store is immediately gone. As a plus size person much of the larger sizes at stores are often gone due to higher demand and lower supply, so a guaranteed item in my size to try on would have really been a huge point in Amazon's favor, albeit begrudgingly given.
Hi Amanda I'm a lurker but I hope you see this because this type of technology is really spread and common and I'm always surprised at how any people are not aware of it . I'm going to try to keep it brief. - tracking clients in stores is not new it has been in use for over a decade now and there are different methods. Most retail store apps have it and also supermarkets. The basic system is called WiFi tracking. But amazon doesn't even need that becuase they already have a tracking device you are holding on to: your phone with the amazon app. The bar they scanned when you enter basically gives them permission to take more of your data... and together with that some more of your privacy.
Hey Amanda I just wanted to let you know I really love your channel and the content you put out! TH-cam recommended one of your videos to me a couple of months ago and I'm so glad it did because i've subscribed ever since and have been furiously watching all your older stuff too. Not much else I can say other than I really like people who make content based on what they're passionate about and can articulate themselves well. Won't be long till you hit a million 🙂Great work and keep it up - from Australia
This is a really interesting concept, the only real upside is that there's less stuff on the sales floor, so they can show more individual items, but that's really it. I would never go because I would feel so bad about making a team of employees go back and forth just for stuff I have no problem doing myself. I'm guessing, especially knowing Amazon, that the brands themselves and the influencers shown in the stores are just picked out by Amazon corporate. What came to my mind is that maybe the brands that have their stuff fulfilled by Amazon agreed to Amazon doing things like this in their contract, and the same goes for the influencers.
Going there as a relatively not-small dude, I will say it was kind of nice to have a variety of clothes in 2XL (which unfortunately gets overlooked in a lot of "trendy" mens clothing) but yeah, I agree with you in the whole "feeling like you're being watched" bit. I'm the kind of person who takes his time so it was really awkward just to be asked "everything okay?" literally every five minutes. As for the signal issue, a worker clarified for me that apparently the location of the store is situated in a way that basically kills signal for some reason so it's either join the wifi or suffer.
Totally agree about the lack of quality in clothes from amazon! Wild to hear that carries into a physical store where you would think they could afforrd to have some more stringent quality control... The dressing room experience feels like there's something there that could be really great, but the shoppintg experience itself definitely sounds like a hastle. And I can almost guaruntee they're tracking data of how customers move through the store, whether it stays attatched to your name or becomes anonymous I'm not sure. I wonder if the app has had to update their terms of use/privacy policy to account for these in-store experiences lol
Sounds like all the frustrations and confusion of shopping on the app combined with all the social anxiety and discomfort of shopping in person. It's the worst of both worlds! Thanks, Amazon.
As someone who has worked retail for 5+ years right next to the amazon style store: its nice to not have to refold everything and have a messy store. I agree that the sales associates watch you like a hawk, theres less shoplifting for sure but its kinda intimidating having the problem of associates always eye-ing you all the time. My visit to this store was a similar experience to yours, I also wasnt too keen on the fashion pieces that were out, the varying qualities(varying prices come with varying qualities)and restrictions on sizing. Its kind of worrying that this store's managers knew little to nothing about answering your questions, that should've been something that the managers train for answering, I understand associates are not getting paid enough but managers should know this information. Hoping this store gets better as they progress throughout the seasonal time but I personally dont see this type of retail store lasting long without making improvements.
I completely agree the manager should at the very least have a deadpan clearly scripted answer that some head honcho made an intern type up 100% out of their ass because that's miles better than just 'idk'
idk why but even listening to your experience had me feeling...awkward, anxious, claustrophobic, and i don't know why. it's probably just me being a weirdo, but don't think i'll be going to one of these lol
My account is still under my dead name, I sure as hell wouldn't want employees knocking and calling that out while I'm already dealing with the stress of trying to find clothes. Nope nope, not my vibe, hate companies trying to force a human connection using our info against us, nope.
I have started making every attempt to not shop at Amazon. It’s annoying how much junk and drop shipping there is. I live an hour from a warehouse, but it still takes 3 days to get using Prime. Half of my purchases are used or don’t work and returns are a hassle. I would rather pay a little more and have the $$ go back into my community
@@TheReZisTLust no, I order brand new items and they send me items that were returned previously by someone else. Sets that have missing pieces, hair dryers with someone else’s hair in it, nail polish that has fingerprints on it with half the bottle missing, stuff like that.
I wish I was surprised no one could say how clothes were picked or how often things would be changed out, but like some places the workers just don't know. I was working retail last summer at a fairly big clothing store, and us on the sales floor wouldn't get much notice on new items coming in unless we were hyping up a BIG changeover, and even my managers often didn't know the answer to "when will this sale/discount end" because upper management wouldn't tell us. Also all of this sounds awful and the phrase "ai based shopping" makes me want to move off grid
BIG agree on jeans. Pants are the one thing I refuse to buy online because every company makes them differently and you never know if you'll actually fit into them. I'm anywhere between a 28-32 in width and 30-32 in length, but it really depends on the brand.
13:20 No, this isn't just you. Amazon knowing your name without a person having spoken to you is creepy. That's not just an anxiety thing, that's a basic human decency thing. This whole store feels like you're in like a warehouse or factory, it's creepy
i feel like there are a lot of places that wrote ur name on a board outside of the fitting room so people can check in with you and make the customer service experience more personal. i know they do this at lily lemon for example - but i agree that because of the general vibe of the store it comes across creepy
@@genevievebaldwin2707 a person asking for your name for a dressing room feels different bc they'll forget your name, but a giant multimillionaire company knowing your name like that feel invasive
Ive never resonated so much with Amanda as i did between 5:02 and 5:42, it was like you were taking my thoughts out of my head and verbalizing them for me. Im shook, also my empathy with you just went sky high. Great video! I loved it!
I feel like the timing for this store change from books to clothes is not ideal and maybe not in the direction the market is going to go soon. I say this for the following reasons. One we have a recession on the way (its not out of the realm of possibility). Two there has been a bigger shift away from fast fashion and more people are becoming very aware of the massive environmental issues caused by the fashion industry, tik-tok is still a big part of fueling the market with cheap clothing but we are seeing more and more people moving to thrifting, making their own clothes, or just buying high quality clothes that will last for a longer period of time. Three: Amazon's reputation has been getting worse over the years including the treatment of employees, people know about this, and I think it will affect them in the long run as people will want to find alternatives to Amazon. I think this was a bad move because the bookstores were while not always the best, were convenient and had a decent selection of books that I wanted to purchase when I was there. That being said, the store has some interesting ideas for safety and keeping the store neat for employees (not having to refold clothing over and over).
What I want to shop for clothes is simple: somewhere I can put in my exact measurements and get shown clothes that will fit me. The reason I haven't made this yet is I don't feel like buying a thousand shirts and measuring each one.
Amazon is just too messed up for anything with multiple sizes and multiple colors. Unless the brand actually manages their product page it too often ends up with one option says "Medium" another says "M" another says "Med" and they all have different colors under each one and it's just trial and error to find the color and size you're looking for which is probably out of stock. Not too mention 95% of the clothing they sell is some no name Chinese brand that you have no idea how the quality, size or fit will be. I just don't do it, I'd rather go to the brands that I know website and order there
I think this kind of store tries to solve the issue of "i can't buy online because i don't know what the clothes are like", which is a common concern with online clothes shopping. But it still seems like some parts of it are not the most enjoyable experience for a customer
I've had mostly great luck with Amazon clothing, *BUT, I do answer all the fit questions so it gives pretty good size recommendations, and I stick to the kinds of things you'd buy in a multipack: undies, tanks, leggings, joggers, & base layers.
The dressing room experience sounds kinda cool like the clothes just showing up for you but having to be on your phone the whole time your in the store sounds super overwhelming i hate having to fo anything on my phone while im at a store.
The only good quality clothing I have ever gotten from Amazon were 2 pairs of bayleaf leggings. I got them years ago and they’re still in great shape. Everything else has been crap.
I think that the "store of the future" will likely be a massive Amazon warehouse building with a much smaller "showroom" in front of it, and you can order anything "online" and pick it up there, but the "showroom" is where the _retailers_ pay Amazon for floor space to _promote_ their products, mainly things where it's better to try things on or handle the object in person before buying. Also, you would be able to order an item from the warehouse, have it delivered to the front desk, try it on in a dressing room, and if you don't like it then they take it back right there, minimizing the risks of "return policy" shenanigans and allowing them to resell the product as new.
One thing I find very uhh, I’ll say interesting, is that when Amazon tried to build a new facility in San Francisco, the spot they picked was basically a homeless encampment area. So what does Amazon do to get rid of them?? They put like a huuuuge tent all over the place and put signs up saying that it was a covid testing area, so that all the homeless people would leave the area and they could start building their new facility. It’s crazy how many new Amazon facilities are popping up. I’m scared they’re gonna take over the whole world lol
I have been fortunate to get good items from amazon 90% of the time. i'm still using the cell phone I bought in 2017. Its all about the reviews and taking your time to check the item details.
What’s wild is that a few years ago in high school we had a project where we had to do a shark tank pitch and me and my friends essentially came up with this store. At least the idea that the store would have pieces you could try on but you then would order it online.
OMG - yes - this! I couldn't put my finger on why it looked off to me! Without multiples of things nicely arranged, it looks like a chaotic mess - like thrifting but made worse because they've decided to group into odd, nebulous style categories instead of simply by the type of clothing. I hate that.
That's what it is that bothers me the most. You put it into words. I'm a bad thrift shopper even though I love the idea of it. I have adhd and having that amount of stuff that all looks different is overwhelming. Organizing it in to arbitrary aesthetics definitely wouldn't help me navigate the store either.
![F.HERO Ft. JSPKK x ลำไย ไหทองคำ x M-PEE - ไม่สนิทบิดหมด (Thai Riders Anthem) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kPJZ0UihBfk/mqdefault.jpg)
As someone who worked at one of the Amazon Book stores before they decided to just. Shut us down. With 2 weeks notice. And being told it's because they wanted to focus on Amazon Style. I am pleased that it is not good :)
TWO WEEKS?!?!
holy crap that SUCKS. That should not be allowed especially from a labor rights perspective. There should have at least been a month or two months' notice with a big all hands-on meeting to explain what is going on so you could at least have another job lined up or just something to prepare. I hope you were able to find work elsewhere or at least they moved you all to another project within Amazon. Did they just lay off everyone?
@@idontevenknow9758 How it worked was they told us on a 5 minute company wide conference call that we were closing our doors. Got 2 weeks notice of when closing date would be for stores, then we had 2 more weeks to close up shop. I’m not allowed to talk about the severance pay because had to sign that away but they did pay us. But basically, we got the call, stores were closed within 2 weeks.
@@Becinneverland fuck the signature, tell us all the dets, not like they will know who you are on her if they're looking for it, which i doubt it
I'm not surprised that the employees didn't know the answer to your questions. They're just average employees at a not average store. Like I work retail and have no idea who decides who chooses the brands in the store, that's not a normal thing for cashiers to know.
actually with a new company like that, its common to teach employees a lot of more in depth info about the company due to it being a grand opening. i would expect them to teach people things, expecting journalists to come and ask questions.
@@Zzz2x I doubt that because most companies don't have that type of forethought when it comes to lower tier associates
Yeah like I work at target and we don’t know about collabs or new brands until they happen lol I have no clue how collaborations happen or what kind of profit split there is or anything. And I feel like a mega corporation like Amazon isn’t going to care enough to tell their bottom rung sales associates about that either
Why would she even ask them that? Lmao she seems like such a karen 🤣
@@jasminelambert3753 jeah but target an old people brand this is amazon busting out whats essentially s japanese style popup shop ud think with influencers and current year argument you would at least tell them a bit more to keep the hype going
I hate Amazon and this just sounds like another horrible work environment and horrible product from them
kind of twisted that Amazon & Prime have really defined and changed the landscape of online shopping, have done everything they can to move people from shopping in local physical stores to buying everything online, and now they're.... opening physical stores. wtf
market capture baby
I mean, why not? They destroyed all their competition, so they can swoop in and take their place.
This is exactly why I almost exclusively buy my clothes from Hot Topic. I know my size and that my fandom merch will be there. On the rare occasion that I did buy through the website, it was all shirts except for one pair of stretch pants. The pants weren't in my exact size so I went with one size smaller. They fit okay, it's just pretty tight and difficult to get on/off, so I sadly don't wear them very often. I grew up wearing bottoms that sit at the natural waistline rather than the hips, so that can cause a bit of difficulty. I'll buy stuff from other retailers if I happen to see something I like but it's pretty rare.
They bought Whole Foods in 2017, so it's been a while.
Aren't Amazon suggestions famously terrible? Isn't it the same algorithm they have for their online purchases where they advertise flashlights to you relentlessly after you buy one like you're not just someone who needed 1 flashlight but you're some flashlight enthusiasts who has to buy every single flashlight and sign up for a monthly subscription of the exact same flashlight for a small discount every month 😮💨
I’m a flashlight FIEND
Nice fruit
The "rebuy" (don't know what it is officially called in English) section is terrible. "It has been roughly 1 week since you bought Monopoly; do you want a second copy of it???? Do you need a refill on that CD you bought? A whole 3 days have gone by, so you might need a second one."
You know you have a flashlight problem when…..
It once suggested to me a cookbook of recipes using s*men. I have absolutely no idea what I triggered in the algorithm to get THAT.
The way i would never ever undress in an Amazon fitting room because I am cynical enough to think there’s some hidden clause that allows full body scans and memory backup just because I wanna try a tank top. Absolutely not lmfao
Honestly, that was my first thought.
same
Asking questions, explaining yourself, and being curious is NOT being annoying! Being curious is a massive asset. Journalists, reporters, scientists, etc. all use questions to further their understanding and find the answer to the central "why." Girl, do not bring yourself down because other people don't ask questions. We need both people in this world!
Yeah I don't get why people are annoyed in the top comment that she was asking these questions like..... I'm sorry but when your entire store is a gimmick like this you should probably at least give the employees a basic, even VAGUE is fine, scripted answer? like I honestly would personally expect the store workers to have some stupid thing they're told to recite if someone asks because this store is supposed to be like amazon irl, not a physical store we're familiar with since we know amazon works as a middle man in terms of retail, it's not like forever 21 where we know the clothes are from, well, forever 21 and not some random name on amazon we've probably never tried before. like seriously, 'we source the products according to amazon metrics that say what is purchased most' is more than easy enough to tell your employees to say and that took me ten seconds to write.
This has "Silicon Valley techbro tries to reinvent the bus, but worse, and considers himself a genius for it" vibes lol
There's a store here in the UK called Argos that sells loads of random homeware and technology and stuff but the gimmick is that there's nothing out on the shop floor, you have to look through a catalogue to choose what you want and then when you place your order at the front desk it appears through a chute from the store room. This kinda sounds like that but for clothes.
my mum used to give us the argos catalogue and choose 15 things (so she could narrow it down to what she was willing to buy) including the product code for christmas and birthdays 😂 she had it sussed
every time there was a new argos catalogue i would go through and circle everything i wanted, i don’t think my parents ever got me any of those things though
Ah yes Argos! The catalogue pages are laminated to catch the tears of joy!
i do love going to argos for me it serves a similar purpose to amazon.
Wait, Argos sounds fun AF 😍
it definitely seems a bit dystopian to me. in general, brick and mortar stores don't need algorithms. if i'm going into a store, i'm either browsing or i know what i want. i dont need all this bullshit technology heaped onto an already simple, straightforward experience
Agreed, I don’t need things suggested to me because I can just see everything on offer and decide what I like.
That’s what I’m thinking. Shopping is already alienating enough, the cyberpunk of this all is just pushing it over the edge. I’m also just imagining what it must be like to work at a place like this. The employees are still retail employees, but they are just operating on the back end and not interacting with any customer. Like imagine working a 9 hour retail shift where you just deliver clothes into closets with names on the doors, without ever seeing who’s behind the doors. That sounds like a nightmare even as a current retail employee
Brick and mortar does need algorithms and use them everyday but it’s should be to this level.
I think the niche for such a weird store is if they had every size of the clothes to try on to try to minimize returns and to minimize human contact. If the app lets you know when to go into the dressing room etc I think there should be very minimal human interaction.
yeah, i find it very odd that they don't have every size bc that makes the store useless for anyone who's larger than medium :/
@@xandermin the display is a medium but then they bring you the correct size to your room, you don’t grab items from the sales floor to bring to your room. The app will tell you if they have the item in your size when you scan it in the store
I also find it weird that they don’t have anything to help you get the correct size. Like, if I were Amazon setting up this store, I would make it a major feature that we’ll have someone who will professionally size you and then upload your measurements to your account so that Amazon can 100% guarantee that they’ll find the right size for you. That would be a game changer and would make shopping with them genuinely appealing - shopping with new brands always sucks bc the sizing always varies a bit, but imagine if you could go in there and get measured and you had a 30 inch waist, so they used that data when finding you your sizes and said “Ok, for brand X, their small has a 30 inch waist, but for brand Y it’s a medium, so we’ll get you a small from X and a medium from Y”.
Especially for a store carrying multiple brands, that would be genuinely amazing. Like, I would go out of my way to shop at an Amazon Style store if I could just walk in, find the clothes that I like, add them to a little list, and then when I go to try stuff on they’ve got everything in the actual best size for me - not having to worry about accounting for sizing differences between brands would be huge.
I am plus size which means it’s up to the individual stores to order plus size or extended sizes of clothes. Some stores, like Old Navy, have said that a limited amount of stores would carry plus size; and if your local store doesn’t, we’ll you have to shop online.
All this to say that I would hate going to this shop and finding out that the clothing I’m interested in doesn’t have a size I can try on. If I can at least try it on, then I could make a decision to order it. But I don’t want to order two of the sizes and then have to return the one that doesn’t fit. That’s a lot more money out of my pocket than Amazon’s.
I think I read somewhere that the only point of amazon creating physical stores is to put their physical competitors out of business, which does kinda fit in with the bookstores only being open for a couple of weeks...
Tbh I think it is a smart idea to have a store like this with a few samples of lots of sizes so the store will never run out of any size. Then you order the clothes and sizes you liked for delivery.
I was shopping for pants the other day, and most of what I could find was either above or below my size, so I ended up buying nothing because there was nothing in my size to even try on. This would minimize that problem. I just hate that it's amazon
I love that me and Swell have the same perception about marketing
I don't care THAT I'm being marketed to, thats just business.
I care when they're doing a terrible job at marketing to me.
Like what am I giving you my metadata for?
i never want a person i dont know to know my name. that sounds AWFUL. you arent crazy for thinking that and thanks for trying it out for us!
Why? Especially if your name is ordinary and millions of other people have it.
@@tokyoyoongi5538 But what if your name isn’t ordinary though. I am 99.9% that nobody else has my name (extremely rare African surname + unusual first name from a completely different culture). I just don’t like the thought of strangers being able to find out information about me so extremely easily.
@@tokyoyoongi5538 i personally have a problem with it because my legal name doesn't match the name i use whatsoever. being deadnamed irl just because my debit card and paypal have to use it legally is not a pleasant concept for me
after working as a vendor at Amazon buildings for nearly a year I'm not surprised in the slightest that the manager didn't know how that worked. Amazon keeps certain info close to the vest or on a need to know basis. Amazon also has a practice of teams getting siloed and not communication with each other despite working on the same project. It's honestly amazing anything gets done there.
Mmm, honestly that experience sounds... very much not for me. Having to be constantly hooked into an app while I'm at the store, the weird two-sided wardrobe that feels like something is being passed out of a decontamination chamber, the complete lack of transparency on profit splitting and selection criteria... it feels very ghoulish. All the disconnection and depersonalisation of shopping online, with the inconvenience and awkwardness of shopping physical retail, with none of the good points of either.
Only makes it worse that Bezos has his grimy paws on it, making me suspicious of the motives. What gives, Jeff? You need to crush another industry under your shitty little thumb to fill the hole in your heart your wife left? Call me cynical but I just can't trust there's any tangible benefit to this awful new model for anyone but Amazon's board of directors.
trying to pass this "experience" off as revolutionary is absurd.
Don't put it all on Bezos. It makes it seem like this wasn't a thing done between the board and executives.
It's trying to put it all on the figure head that makes other idiots believe Elon Musk invented the Tesla electric vehicle.
There's a number of stupid scummy people at the top of corporations at this size. And shareholders in their thousands who expect "innovation" and growth. Who put the board and executives in a position to take on debt and do stupid shit like this.
Capitalism is a model that requires stupid ideas to be sold as "the next big thing."
The two-sided closet just reminds me of passing urine samples to your gynecologist 😂😂
honestly this seems like a lot of extra work for an experience that's not really that much better than a regular clothing store
Thank you for shopping there so we don't have to.
As for how brands and products get chosen, that's a completely separate position from the manager. Still not sure how applications or whatnot work in Amazons case, but it would be under the jurisdiction of a Purchasing Officer or Purchasing Agent. With some retailers I've heard of them working in the corporate office, others are also in charge of stock and work in the back. Some Purchasing Officers are more freelance and just do contracts before moving on. I have seen the Store Manager do some of this work (more of looking over purchase orders and submitting it, rather then curating it), but for Amazon it makes sense that it would be much more segmented and why the manager didn't know anything. Hopefully that helps even though it doesn't answer your question.
I stopped supporting any Amazon enterprise 3 years ago, and when you draw that line it’s actually very easy to avoid
Thats great!
Unfortunately half the internet is powered by Amazon Web Services. Bezos has his greasy hands on all of our wallets; you can't escape the all consuming machine that is end-stage capitalism
I really felt your jean rant at the end of the video. Denim has caused a lot of negative emotions for me, and honestly, I gave up on jeans a long time ago. They're just not for me.
Hello! I currently work as a Buyer, and for a brand like Amazon Fashion it's the job of the Buyer to decide which brands go into each door! All multi brand retailers like Target, Nordstrom, etc. all have buyers that choose which brands will go into each department and store based off of factors like popularity, best fit for the region/local demographic, current selling trends, price range, etc. So to answer your question, Buyers choose which brands go into stores. :) Hope that helps!
With them having to find and give you the items, this sounds like it actually takes far more labor than a regular store.
I appreciate you doing this video. HopeScope also visited this store a week or two ago and her review was super positive, so it's nice to have a more realistic review of what might become the future of retail shopping.
Isn't she one of the featured creators?
@@rebelks88 that would absolutely not surprise me
the only good thing here is less shoplifting. *everything else sucks for everyone:*
- the workers have to constantly run around to grab different pieces and bring them to each changing room: it's probably really overwhelming. i can already see them messing up / taking too long and being yelled at by a karen
- you have to walk around with your phone in hand (annoying)
- you can't look at bigger / smaller sizes unless you're in a fitting room, which is also not great. my tops literally range from XS to XL. id want to look at the sizes :|
- having to constantly talk to the employers would make me super anxious straight up
- mixing brands means you'll have to look at every price tag to make sure it's something affordable and not a 300$ piece in the middle of a bunch of 20$ stuff
is it really less shoplifting, though? The employees are scurrying between the warehouse and the fitting rooms, and if the qr codes are on the item hangers then there's no rfid tags or door alarms. kinda seems like you could make off with a couple of display pieces if you're careful
Lmao you must be from 80z cause phones are in hands about 80% of the time
shoplifting is good though! so theres really no true benefit for the consumer, and many benefits for the corporation
I began watching this out of curiosity. As it continued, I felt uncomfortable, then anxìous. Nearing the end, I was creeped out. I could ìmagine this store in a dystopia novel.
I don't think doing online for clothes, specially, will ever be the norm. Clothes always fit weird/different and need to be tried on. It's too much of a hassle right now to send something back and find something else
There was a customer who clotheslined an attempted shoplifter at the urban outfitters where I used to work and it's like... that's badass but not worth it for overpriced clothes from a shitty company you don't even work for
This is probably very stupid of me but what does clotheslined mean?
I know it’s been three months, but I figured SOMEONE should’ve responded by this point. Getting clotheslined means getting hit at the chest or head level while running and falling as a result.@@crazyowlgirlcncowner
Most Amazon clothes are not good. I mostly just get them for specific costumes or really cheap accessories. It seems a bit tedious.
if I need to use an app to shop in a store, I won't shop there
Totally agree
I almost never go shopping but I actually like the idea of this. Just seeing something I like. And it ends up in a dressing room with the right size?
Sounds like it would save me time and stress.
This is a model I will never interface with. I buy almost all my clothing at thrift shops and yards sales.
Well done!
same!
I'm so with you on jeans. As a plus size person, its a damn nightmare to even find clothing in my size range and I've basically given up on in store shopping so I'd probably pass on the amazon store. Thanks for reporting!
I'm not plus sized, but I'm on the taller side and jeans almost always tend to be short on me. That bugs me
So it's like normal retail, but worse in every way. Got it.
TH-cam just had me take a survey about the quality of your comment. I rated it well, but figured you might want to know. It's really weird that this is a thing they do now
Problem I have with Amazon there is way too many duplicates of the same item from different sellers and I struggle to narrow down to the best one/original one...
there are some parts to this store that i think are really cool, but the experience as a whole and the motives of the company come off as so dystopian that it really sours the parts that are neat
This is basically my feelings on it, I really like the idea of specifically like the fitting room, but otherwise there’s some things I’m really mixed about
As much as I hate amazon, I think if they just had their ai analyze this comment section they could make an actually ok shopping experience (at least at these weird hybrid stores). Do I think they'd ever care enough to do so, no; but there are positives to this that I would like if only some of the negatives were fixed like making it an optional choice in app at the store (I don't know how that would work but still) whether they talked to you at all while in the changing rooms (I would also probably be creeped out by them talking too).
I think after a few months of recommending clothes, the algorithm will pick up on what people will be more likely to buy
@@YandereDay I'm honestly surprised it doesn't seem like it recommended at all based off of past Amazon history
@@lillithmain3431 yeah that too. Like if someone likes Nike already recommended Nike. Though she did say she doesn't order much from Amazon, so maybe thats why the selection was so basic
As someone who’s worked in clothing retail but didn’t think much of it at the time, I find it really interesting to consider all the logistics that go in to an Amazon store and the data they can collect from certain clothing items being scanned more often. The store I worked at didn’t really place any sort of… importance on what clothes are selling better (we had several different styles of “girl” and each section was named for that style: i.e., BoHo girl, punk girl, girly girl) and how that affects the layout, but it sounds like Amazon will consider that heavily moving forward.
What is a "Boho girl"?
@Pierson MD
Like hippy. They call the style “bohemian”.
@@PierceMD traditionally someone more hippy style but our fast-fashion store defined it more like outfits ready for Coachella.
You make an excellent point about the data they're collecting. There's so much power in just the most minimal of someone buying 3 shirts and then Amazon looking at with those 3 shirts have in common.
ill be honest im never gonna go to a physical store i cant shoplift from. i dont even shoplift its just out of principle.
‼️‼️‼️
Huhhhh?
@@Lmaoyoudontknowme you heard them
@@grey6703 yea… you definitely look like a liberal…
I get it. Physical realìty is still ìmpoŕtant. Uncertainty is a positive. Fight the future!!
I’m really impressed with the fitting room. I liked how you can easily review your items on a screen. Also, how they were putting the items into the closet for you. And you could pay from your phone off the app. And the overall setup of the fitting room. They were nice. Wish all stores starting going to this format.
Usually at most stores/companies a corporate buyer that works for the company chooses which brands to carry in the store. They pay the company for the pieces beforehand so the small business already got the money whether you purchase the items or not. It looks great if the brand gets purchased by the consumer a lot though so that the store will continue to buy from them. Hopefully that made sense! I'm not sure if this is how the Amazon stores are doing it, but I'd my guess based on what other stores do.
Call me a luddite but if I have to download like JC Penny's, Old Navy and what ever store's app when I go shopping I will simply stop
I feel you on the “I’m 5’2 I’m 19 what ami gonna do?!” Because I worked retail and shoplifting was a huge issue but … what am I gonna do?
You definitely worked at Carter's and Oshkosh. We had the same problem with adding Oshkosh when I worked at the Mall of America store.
I immediately thought of Carter's and Oshkosh too!
also you deserve a veteran's discount for working retail... at a children's store... in one of the world's biggest malls(?). That sounds like the 10th circle of hell. lmao I salute you for your service. 🫡
I think the wripped sleeve was actually a thumb hole it's a thing
I am not a fan of the setup where there are only samples on the floor and you have to wait for them to bring you the ones you’re going to buy. Glossier does that too, and you end up sitting around and waiting for your order forever if they’re busy.
I will say maybe for accessibility this is kind of cool, like if you have limited mobility it's kind of cool for things to be delivered to the room - I wonder if you could just look at things on the app and kind of just chill in or by the dressing room to try stuff on. If things had better audio descriptions on the app that would also be cool for blind people, and then the stuff could be BROUGHT to the room and you can feel the piece and decide if it's right for you and if not they just take it - don't have to go back and fourth trying to find the right sizes. It would need some work but they should definitely lean into this
The thing with Amazon is that the method for choosing the brands might include a lot of analysis on what clothes people living in the area buy from the website. Or it might be some really fancy data driven thing for finding the perfect set of brands and styles that they want to keep a secret. In either case, I don't think it's super necessary to teach the people selling the clothes how they ended up with the selection.
(Amazon is generally a very data analysis oriented company. Very useful if you have a bunch of fulfillment centers and for each of them you want to find a balance of neither running out or having unnecessarily high stock of a big number of items whose demand can depend on multiple factors. Like for example swimwear or humidifiers whose demand varies by geography and seasons.)
I used to find really awesome clothing options on Amazon, but now everything is from the same Chinese factory, made from the same shitty polyester fabric, and is 2 sizes too short. What drives me more crazy is that now most other women’s clothing options online sell the same exact shit, but for twice as much money. The one that blows my mind is Altered State, their dresses are minimum $70 and they’re soooo cheaply made!!
Could not agree more
And they all have the same photoshopped tan blonde model
I’ll say this having worked retail, blue is like the predominant colour. Blue is like the number one colour of clothing after white, black and grey which I don’t count as colours. It’s literally blue, and especially in menswear, it’s mostly blue.
I wonder what their plush size situation looks like. I understand why you didn’t touch on it but I’d be curious to hear if anyone else has.
Not good. They don't have plus size.
No one at that store is going to know those questions. What they know is what corporate tells them and they’re going to, at the most, get a list of items they’re selling and how to reorder them. They are not going to be told who gets paid for those items. Not even the manager. You want that answer- ask Amazon corporate.
This sounds like such a stressful way to shop. I don't think it is for me. Thanks for doing this!
This seems like my retail nightmare come to life and I work in retail.
would absolutely never ever ever buy clothes from Amazon, but i do like the idea of sending clothes to a room to be tried on... the app would be annoying tho
I think they do cap it. I'm pretty sure in HopeScope's video she got a message that she'd hit her limit for things to try.
Yes she did. She liked the experience but I guess it just works for some and not for others. Same as normal retail.
I feel like they could probably just charge your Amazon account if you did take something maybe.
Probably not possible because not all people tie their card to their accounts.
@@memali2939 Also I think there's nothing stopping you from logging out of your account after you go in. You can probably pocket at least something if you're clever
I'm not surprised that the manager couldn't or wouldn't answer your questions. I don't work for amazon but I do work retail and customers ask me questions that I can't answer or that I'm told not to answer all the time
I probably already know the answer, but did they have bigger sizes than XL? That's what I would like to know.
It is funny that Amazon has been the poster child of replacing physical stores but they're going back to where it all started BY opening a store lol
If the whole shtick is that the items are there to just try on and buy later then there's absolutely no reason to have one of every size of every item. While medium is still slightly better than them only having xs/s or only mannequin sizes, having a medium will end up alienating a vast majority of shoppers. Any interest I may have felt going into this store is immediately gone. As a plus size person much of the larger sizes at stores are often gone due to higher demand and lower supply, so a guaranteed item in my size to try on would have really been a huge point in Amazon's favor, albeit begrudgingly given.
Hi Amanda I'm a lurker but I hope you see this because this type of technology is really spread and common and I'm always surprised at how any people are not aware of it . I'm going to try to keep it brief.
- tracking clients in stores is not new it has been in use for over a decade now and there are different methods. Most retail store apps have it and also supermarkets. The basic system is called WiFi tracking. But amazon doesn't even need that becuase they already have a tracking device you are holding on to: your phone with the amazon app. The bar they scanned when you enter basically gives them permission to take more of your data... and together with that some more of your privacy.
Hey Amanda I just wanted to let you know I really love your channel and the content you put out! TH-cam recommended one of your videos to me a couple of months ago and I'm so glad it did because i've subscribed ever since and have been furiously watching all your older stuff too. Not much else I can say other than I really like people who make content based on what they're passionate about and can articulate themselves well. Won't be long till you hit a million 🙂Great work and keep it up - from Australia
This is a really interesting concept, the only real upside is that there's less stuff on the sales floor, so they can show more individual items, but that's really it. I would never go because I would feel so bad about making a team of employees go back and forth just for stuff I have no problem doing myself.
I'm guessing, especially knowing Amazon, that the brands themselves and the influencers shown in the stores are just picked out by Amazon corporate. What came to my mind is that maybe the brands that have their stuff fulfilled by Amazon agreed to Amazon doing things like this in their contract, and the same goes for the influencers.
When you say "some b roll" i hear "zombie roll" every time. LMFAO.
Going there as a relatively not-small dude, I will say it was kind of nice to have a variety of clothes in 2XL (which unfortunately gets overlooked in a lot of "trendy" mens clothing) but yeah, I agree with you in the whole "feeling like you're being watched" bit. I'm the kind of person who takes his time so it was really awkward just to be asked "everything okay?" literally every five minutes. As for the signal issue, a worker clarified for me that apparently the location of the store is situated in a way that basically kills signal for some reason so it's either join the wifi or suffer.
The items being "in pretty good shape" should not be the expectation. wow
That fitting room looks really dystopian to me
Totally agree about the lack of quality in clothes from amazon! Wild to hear that carries into a physical store where you would think they could afforrd to have some more stringent quality control... The dressing room experience feels like there's something there that could be really great, but the shoppintg experience itself definitely sounds like a hastle.
And I can almost guaruntee they're tracking data of how customers move through the store, whether it stays attatched to your name or becomes anonymous I'm not sure. I wonder if the app has had to update their terms of use/privacy policy to account for these in-store experiences lol
Sounds like all the frustrations and confusion of shopping on the app combined with all the social anxiety and discomfort of shopping in person. It's the worst of both worlds! Thanks, Amazon.
I would hate that experience. Thanks Amanda.
As someone who has worked retail for 5+ years right next to the amazon style store: its nice to not have to refold everything and have a messy store. I agree that the sales associates watch you like a hawk, theres less shoplifting for sure but its kinda intimidating having the problem of associates always eye-ing you all the time. My visit to this store was a similar experience to yours, I also wasnt too keen on the fashion pieces that were out, the varying qualities(varying prices come with varying qualities)and restrictions on sizing. Its kind of worrying that this store's managers knew little to nothing about answering your questions, that should've been something that the managers train for answering, I understand associates are not getting paid enough but managers should know this information. Hoping this store gets better as they progress throughout the seasonal time but I personally dont see this type of retail store lasting long without making improvements.
I completely agree the manager should at the very least have a deadpan clearly scripted answer that some head honcho made an intern type up 100% out of their ass because that's miles better than just 'idk'
idk why but even listening to your experience had me feeling...awkward, anxious, claustrophobic, and i don't know why. it's probably just me being a weirdo, but don't think i'll be going to one of these lol
My account is still under my dead name, I sure as hell wouldn't want employees knocking and calling that out while I'm already dealing with the stress of trying to find clothes. Nope nope, not my vibe, hate companies trying to force a human connection using our info against us, nope.
I will never get tired of that intro
I have started making every attempt to not shop at Amazon. It’s annoying how much junk and drop shipping there is. I live an hour from a warehouse, but it still takes 3 days to get using Prime. Half of my purchases are used or don’t work and returns are a hassle. I would rather pay a little more and have the $$ go back into my community
You select the used option and are shocked that it works half the time?
@@TheReZisTLust no, I order brand new items and they send me items that were returned previously by someone else. Sets that have missing pieces, hair dryers with someone else’s hair in it, nail polish that has fingerprints on it with half the bottle missing, stuff like that.
@@lunalovengood9670 Thats stupid and isnt even new then but used, I'd send complaints if possible. If only that was lawsuit worthy
I wish I was surprised no one could say how clothes were picked or how often things would be changed out, but like some places the workers just don't know. I was working retail last summer at a fairly big clothing store, and us on the sales floor wouldn't get much notice on new items coming in unless we were hyping up a BIG changeover, and even my managers often didn't know the answer to "when will this sale/discount end" because upper management wouldn't tell us. Also all of this sounds awful and the phrase "ai based shopping" makes me want to move off grid
It also doesn't help that most people don't get paid enough to care about where anything comes from and are just there to work and go home.
BIG agree on jeans. Pants are the one thing I refuse to buy online because every company makes them differently and you never know if you'll actually fit into them. I'm anywhere between a 28-32 in width and 30-32 in length, but it really depends on the brand.
100% feel you on being in the right headspace to shop for jeans. It can ruin your day so fast.
Yeah... Amazon is ~absolutely~ making the most profit from... *EVERYTHING*. That is kind of the MO for the ~brand~.
13:20 No, this isn't just you. Amazon knowing your name without a person having spoken to you is creepy. That's not just an anxiety thing, that's a basic human decency thing. This whole store feels like you're in like a warehouse or factory, it's creepy
i feel like there are a lot of places that wrote ur name on a board outside of the fitting room so people can check in with you and make the customer service experience more personal. i know they do this at lily lemon for example - but i agree that because of the general vibe of the store it comes across creepy
@@genevievebaldwin2707 a person asking for your name for a dressing room feels different bc they'll forget your name, but a giant multimillionaire company knowing your name like that feel invasive
@@silverwiki196 You're only saying this because it's Amazon. I'm sure you give your details to other websites without reading terms and conditions...
I litterly save your videos to watch as a treat because you are my favorite youtuber. Its like when you leave the best pieces of food for the end.
Ive never resonated so much with Amanda as i did between 5:02 and 5:42, it was like you were taking my thoughts out of my head and verbalizing them for me. Im shook, also my empathy with you just went sky high. Great video! I loved it!
That double sided closet thing isn't anything new. It's just used for milk delivery and usually still in decontamination rooms.
I feel like the timing for this store change from books to clothes is not ideal and maybe not in the direction the market is going to go soon. I say this for the following reasons. One we have a recession on the way (its not out of the realm of possibility). Two there has been a bigger shift away from fast fashion and more people are becoming very aware of the massive environmental issues caused by the fashion industry, tik-tok is still a big part of fueling the market with cheap clothing but we are seeing more and more people moving to thrifting, making their own clothes, or just buying high quality clothes that will last for a longer period of time. Three: Amazon's reputation has been getting worse over the years including the treatment of employees, people know about this, and I think it will affect them in the long run as people will want to find alternatives to Amazon. I think this was a bad move because the bookstores were while not always the best, were convenient and had a decent selection of books that I wanted to purchase when I was there. That being said, the store has some interesting ideas for safety and keeping the store neat for employees (not having to refold clothing over and over).
You have such great questions and insights! Also lmao jeans shopping is such a humbling experience 😭
I related so much with that point about wanting to look fashionable and then choosing comfortable.
What I want to shop for clothes is simple: somewhere I can put in my exact measurements and get shown clothes that will fit me. The reason I haven't made this yet is I don't feel like buying a thousand shirts and measuring each one.
Amazon is just too messed up for anything with multiple sizes and multiple colors. Unless the brand actually manages their product page it too often ends up with one option says "Medium" another says "M" another says "Med" and they all have different colors under each one and it's just trial and error to find the color and size you're looking for which is probably out of stock. Not too mention 95% of the clothing they sell is some no name Chinese brand that you have no idea how the quality, size or fit will be. I just don't do it, I'd rather go to the brands that I know website and order there
I think this kind of store tries to solve the issue of "i can't buy online because i don't know what the clothes are like", which is a common concern with online clothes shopping.
But it still seems like some parts of it are not the most enjoyable experience for a customer
I've had mostly great luck with Amazon clothing, *BUT, I do answer all the fit questions so it gives pretty good size recommendations, and I stick to the kinds of things you'd buy in a multipack: undies, tanks, leggings, joggers, & base layers.
The dressing room experience sounds kinda cool like the clothes just showing up for you but having to be on your phone the whole time your in the store sounds super overwhelming i hate having to fo anything on my phone while im at a store.
The only good quality clothing I have ever gotten from Amazon were 2 pairs of bayleaf leggings. I got them years ago and they’re still in great shape. Everything else has been crap.
They sell nice Aladdin yoga pants.
“I need to be emotionally stable enough for buying jeans” truer words where
I think that the "store of the future" will likely be a massive Amazon warehouse building with a much smaller "showroom" in front of it, and you can order anything "online" and pick it up there, but the "showroom" is where the _retailers_ pay Amazon for floor space to _promote_ their products, mainly things where it's better to try things on or handle the object in person before buying. Also, you would be able to order an item from the warehouse, have it delivered to the front desk, try it on in a dressing room, and if you don't like it then they take it back right there, minimizing the risks of "return policy" shenanigans and allowing them to resell the product as new.
One thing I find very uhh, I’ll say interesting, is that when Amazon tried to build a new facility in San Francisco, the spot they picked was basically a homeless encampment area. So what does Amazon do to get rid of them?? They put like a huuuuge tent all over the place and put signs up saying that it was a covid testing area, so that all the homeless people would leave the area and they could start building their new facility. It’s crazy how many new Amazon facilities are popping up. I’m scared they’re gonna take over the whole world lol
That was an interesting watch. Reminded me of Argos but for clothes. (And better than Tu's click and collect!)
I have been fortunate to get good items from amazon 90% of the time. i'm still using the cell phone I bought in 2017. Its all about the reviews and taking your time to check the item details.
What’s wild is that a few years ago in high school we had a project where we had to do a shark tank pitch and me and my friends essentially came up with this store. At least the idea that the store would have pieces you could try on but you then would order it online.
One of everything smashed together on the racks makes it look like a thrift store.
OMG - yes - this! I couldn't put my finger on why it looked off to me! Without multiples of things nicely arranged, it looks like a chaotic mess - like thrifting but made worse because they've decided to group into odd, nebulous style categories instead of simply by the type of clothing. I hate that.
That's what it is that bothers me the most. You put it into words.
I'm a bad thrift shopper even though I love the idea of it. I have adhd and having that amount of stuff that all looks different is overwhelming. Organizing it in to arbitrary aesthetics definitely wouldn't help me navigate the store either.