On October third 2017, Amazon announced that they acquired a New-York based start-up called Body Labs. Amazon refused to comment on why it was willing to pay a sales price between $50 and $70 million dollar for this acquisition. And to add to the mystery, it became no longer possible to enter the website of Body Labs. What we do know, is that Body Labs is a company that is specialized in making artificial intelligence software that captures both the body shape and motion in 3D. Body Labs pointed out that this technology can be used as software within the gaming industry, however it’s likely that Amazon is aiming at a different market with their presence in fashion (Hartmans, 2017).
In 2012 made Amazon its first move into this market as it started off with advertisement in fashion. Soon became the fashion industry critical in their ambition to surpass the $200 billion in sales (Siegel, 2016) and nowadays it even lead to the statement that Amazon wants to be ‘the best place to buy fashion online’ as a platform. (Fumo, 2017). Many expect that this reveals the true purpose behind the acquisition of Body Labs (Hartmans, 2017).
Amazon could use the technology to enable customers to try on clothes in a virtual environment and in addition provide them with tailored recommendations based on their body types. These enhancements can give customers an in-store experience and lets them make decisions based on better information. These technological enhancements could lead to a diminished amount of return shipments, and might even establish a growth within the online fashion market as the easiness of shopping will increase.
If Amazon is indeed planning to implement the AI technology for online fashion, it will be interesting to see what the impact is. To what extend will the traditional stores become abundant and will this technological change indeed disrupt the fashion industry?
Hartmans, A. (2017) Amazon just bought a startup that makes 3D scans of your body. Retrieved from: http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-body-labs-3d-body-scanning-startup-2017-10?international=true&r=US&IR=T
Siegel, R. (2016) Decoding Amazon’s Fashion Ambitions. Retrieved from: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/fashion-tech/decoding-amazons-fashion-ambitions
Fumo, N. (2017) Amazon dominates every market it touches — now it’s coming for fashion. Retrieved from: https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/24/15685250/amazon-fashion-conquer-dwyane-wade-store.
