Amazon.com Inc. continues to take steps in the fashion category with the launch of a styling service, Personal Shopper by Prime Wardrobe, as the e-commerce giant takes on outfit-in-a-box pioneer Stitch Fix Inc. and luxury consignment newcomer RealReal, among others competing for the changing habits of consumers.
Personal Shopper by Prime Wardrobe offers Prime members the chance to have a team shop for them based on a customer survey for style and fit preferences. Shoppers preview their picks and select the items they want shipped. Customers have seven days to try on the items and only pay for what they keep.
Shipping and returns are free, but Prime members pay $4.99 per month for the service.
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Amazon AMZN, -1.73% has been wading further into fashion waters with offerings like the CK x Amazon Fashion Event, which included items from PVH Corp. PVH, -2.78% brand Calvin Klein, a limited-time collaboration with Levi Strauss & Co. LEVI, +3.11% that was featured during this year’s Prime Day event, and the launch of Prime Wardrobe for all U.S. Prime customers last year, which also gives shoppers the chance to try items before committing to a purchase.
The Prime Wardrobe service “has been met with muted success,” though it has added a personalization element to the Prime membership, said Wells Fargo in a note published Tuesday.
“While this gained some traction, a large number of consumers viewed the experience as overwhelming due to the number of products to choose from (a common issue we believe has held back Amazon’s ability to drive meaningful share in “fashion” apparel).”
Amazon also has a section that’s getting some media attention, Amazon Fashion Instagram Picks, that pulls popular items from the social media platform.
Prime members in the U.S. number more than 100 million.
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Amazon is the top apparel seller in the U.S., according to separate a June 7 Wells Fargo note, which estimates that the e-commerce giant will surpass $44 billion in sales of clothing and shoes in 2019.
“Thus we think it is remarkable that Amazon isn’t well known as a softlines destination, but they have now grown to become the industry leader,” the note said.
Personal Shopper by Prime Wardrobe is available now for women, with men’s coming soon.
“Amazon’s push into the fashion apparel space through their subscription box service (‘try before you buy’) has been a long-touted bear case against Stitch Fix that investors have talked about ever since [the latter] has been public” beginning in November 2017, wrote Wells Fargo in its most recent Stitch Fix note.
Stitch Fix SFIX, -1.74% also offers a personal styling service, collecting data from users to aid stylists who choose items that customers will, hopefully, want to add to their closets.
See: Stitch Fix is on a growth trajectory – here are two reasons why
For its part, Stitch Fix has done a “very commendable job” of targeting its “higher-quality clients” over the last year, but analysts say concern is growing as competition from companies like RealReal Inc REAL, -3.80% heats up.
“Given the fact that growth is normalizing and new initiatives and categories will likely require higher spend, we believe that marketing will likely continue to deleverage on the P&L for the next few years,” Wells Fargo said.
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Wells Fargo rates Stitch Fix stock market perform with a $30 price target.
Stitch Fix is up 54% for the year to date. Amazon shares have rallied 26% for 2019 so far. And the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.73% is up 20% for the year to date.
