Amazon Might Have Found a Way to Stop Customers From Ordering Multiple Sizes of the Same Clothing Item
Amazon seems to be looking for a way to put a stop to the issue involving customers who make their homes their very own fitting rooms when ordering clothes online.
The retail giant is no stranger to what has become a major practice of some online shoppers who take advantage of free shipping and not-so-strict return policies.
Many buyers order multiple sizes of clothing items to basically try them on and find which one best fits. They will then return the rest.
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It turns out that a lot of people actually do this. As per Futurism, 20 percent of online purchases are returned, which is huge compared to the 9 percent for items returned in a physical store.
However, Amazon might be working on something to curb this. According to Wall Street Journal, the company has an ongoing project that has to do with 3D body scanning.
The company is offering $250 gift cards to anyone who agrees to take part in 10 sessions of 3D body scanning to be held in New York. The process will be done over a course of 20 weeks and will be 30 minutes each per 3D body scan.
Amazon is keeping things on a lid about the project, with a representative telling the abovementioned publication that she "couldn't comment on rumor or speculation."
The retail titan would only say that the project is an attempt for them to get a better understanding of how bodies change shape over time.
Amazon is doing the recruitment through surveys, which include questions about a customer's current weight as well as their fitness level and whether or not they are planning to do any weight loss programs in the future.
While the company likes to keep things close to the vest, for now, its recent acquisition of Body Labs hints what they have up their sleeves.
Prior to its acquisition, the website of Body Labs reportedly listed its tech as being used "by fashion e-commerce retailers wanting to offer sizing recommendations." Futurism posits that this might even be what primarily fuelled Amazon's interest in the company.
Amazon is not the only online retailer that has to deal with the scheme of returned items due to the sizing. Many companies have tried to avoid this by providing online shoppers what they believe are more accurate and elaborate tools to help them find the clothes that fit.
Going beyond the usual small, medium, large sizing that vary most of the time depending on brands, some start-ups are making use of virtual recognition technology that allows buyers to choose the right size by comparing it to a number of body types.
A company named CALA allows buyers to upload their own photos, which will then be compared to 1,000 3D body scans in its database. This will help the fashion designers to customize clothing items to fit the specifications that match the particular body shape or type.
At the moment, there is no way of knowing what Amazon is up to with the 3D body scans, but it would not be a surprise if it turns out to be in the same vein as that of CALA.
