Amazon’s newest Prime benefit is a sense of fashion.
The online retail giant has quietly rolled out a feature for its iOS app called “Outfit Compare” — allowing people to upload pictures of themselves in different outfits and receive quick expert advice.
“Outfit Compare is a free service for Amazon Prime members that can give you a second opinion on what to wear,” the company says in an FAQ inside the app. “Add two photos of yourself wearing different outfits. In about a minute, a fashion specialist will respond to let you know which outfit looks better on you. The answers take into account how the clothes fit you, which colors look best on you, how the outfits are styled, and what’s on trend right now.”
So who are these fashion specialists? The FAQ explains that “they come from varied backgrounds in the fashion, retail, editorial, styling and creative fields” and have “Honed their expertise through ongoing training focusing on personal style, seasonal trends and more.
TechCrunch broke the news, noting that a version is in the works for the Amazon app for Android, as well. The Verge tested out the feature, concluding that it’s “a fun tool to mess around with, but it’s unclear what exactly Amazon gets out of it.”
But isn’t it obvious what Amazon gets out of it? If people use this in traditional retail dressing rooms, they’ll be more inclined to check the Amazon app for the same or similar clothes at a lower price.
This is the latest in a series of new Prime benefits from the company, continuing to boost the value of its $99/year membership program.
Amazon has long offered a crowdsourced online workforce on-demand through its Mechanical Turk program, so in some ways this is a more specialized version of that. It’s interesting to think of what other types of on-demand advice and input the company could offer from experts.
We found the feature in the latest version of Amazon’s iOS app by going to the menu and selecting “Other Ways to Shop,” then “Outfit Compare.”
