It’s normal for a shopper to send pictures of different outfits to his or her friends, asking for input and guidance. It’s less common, though, to message an Amazon employee for advice. Amazon is looking to change that, with the goals of increased engagement and upsells, with its new Amazon Outfit Compare feature.
Amazon Outfit Compare is a functionality in the latest version of their app that gives Amazon Prime customers fashion advice. A user submits two photos, and receives feedback from Amazon-employed stylists in a matter of minutes.
According to TechCrunch, the stylists rate the outfits on a number of variables, including the fit of the clothing, which colors look best on the user, how the outfits are styled, and what’s fashionable at the moment.
Once the stylists have decided, the winning outfit is rated on a three-level system consisting of the feedback, “It was a close call,” “We like this better,” and “Definitely pick this one!”
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While Amazon Outfit Compare doesn’t explicitly push any Amazon products, it seems that it could boost revenue in a number of ways.
- Amazon Outfit Compare users will likely spend more time in-app, increasing the likelihood that they’ll encounter something they want to purchase.
- The feature could boost Amazon’s reputation among fashion shoppers by providing potentially valuable information. This has also been one of Amazon’s Style Code Live’s goals.
- There’s room in the future for Amazon Outfit Compare feedback to include purchase suggestions for items to go along with the submitted outfits, or for it to store data from the submitted pictures and use it for suggestions. However, it’s clarified that the photos are only viewed by Amazon staff, and deleting them from the Amazon Outfit Compare feature will also delete them from the app and any copies associated with a user’s personal account.
This feature may be entertaining, but I wonder if shoppers will actually use it. Fashion fans often use social media and online communities to get outfit advice from strangers, but those interactions generally happen when the user knows and likes the community’s taste and reputation. Given that–despite many of its efforts–Amazon still isn’t really known for offering a curated, elevated fashion shopping experience, I’m doubtful that the trend-conscious will be as eager to get advice from its employees. It’d be a different story if a site with a stronger style reputation, whether it’s Net-a-Porter or ASOS, did this. Still, given the size of Amazon’s user base, this Outfit Compare feature will certainly get some mileage.
While Amazon Outfit Compare isn’t a proven success yet, many other ways of using visual user generated content to produce sales are. Visual Commerce–including shoppable Instagram through Shoppic,me, shoppable multimedia user generated content displays, and more–boosts engagement and orders through shoppers’ images.
