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business Friday 21 January 2022
Amazon heads to the mall with prototype clothing store

NEW YORK (AP) — First, Am- ing a touchscreen.
azon competed with malls. "Amazon Style completely
Now, it's moving inside one. reimagines what's possible
The online retailing giant in the fitting room, turning
said Thursday that it plans it into a personalized space
to open a clothing store in where customers can con-
a Southern California mall tinue to shop a seemingly
later this year. It's the latest endless closet of great
foray into brick-and-mortar styles," Vasen wrote in an
for Amazon, which already Amazon blog.
sells more than 10% of all Neil Saunders, managing
clothes in the U.S. director of GlobalData
The store, which will sell Retail, said the prototype
women's and men's cloth- store could deepen Ama-
ing as well as shoes and zon's influence in the sec-
other accessories, will open tor, especially among
at Americana at Brand, a clothing shoppers who love
mall in Glendale, California. the experience of explor-
The entry into malls could ing and browsing physical
become another threat to stores. And it could em-
traditional clothing sellers like Macy's. However, it will jections. Amazon didn't clothing sold in the U.S. power Amazon with more
because of the data and offer more than double the give a precise date for the Amazon has been making shopping data.
shopper insights Amazon number of styles as tradi- opening of the Glendale a big push into fashion in re- But he also cautioned that
may gain, experts say. tional stores do because store. cent years through its own Amazon's success depends
Amazon says its algorithms only one of each piece of Amazon unseated Walmart labels and in September on execution.
will spit out real-time rec- clothing will be on display, as the largest clothing seller 2020, it launched an online "Traditionally, it is not all
ommendations as shop- with the rest in the back last year during the pan- shop called Luxury Stores. that good at creating a
pers keep scanning items room. Items are chosen by demic as more people be- Shoppers at the Amazon great in-store experience,"
that they see. Shoppers Amazon curators who also gan shopping online. Style store can browse said Saunders. "It tends to
can also fill out an online use feedback provided by Wells Fargo forecast in items on display and scan be very solid at technology
survey of their preferences millions of customers shop- March that Amazon's cloth- a QR code to see sizes, col- and operations but can
for style and fit. ping on Amazon.com. ing and footwear sales in ors and customer ratings. fall short on spirit and soul
The store will be about Simoina Vasen, managing the U.S. increased by about Shoppers can send items to — both of which are par-
30,000 square feet, simi- director of Amazon Style, 15% in 2020 to more than fitting rooms or directly to ticularly important in fash-
lar in size to a Kohl's, but declined to comment on $41 billion. That's about the store's counter. Once ion where consumers love
about one-third the size of rollout plans of the new 20% to 25% above Walmart in a fitting room, customers inspiration, curation, and
other department stores store concept or sales pro- and 11% to 12% share of all can request other items us- personal services. "q
Rising inflation tightens squeeze on consumers

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AP strategist for LPL Financial. "We had a lot of momen-
Business Writer "But it does highlight that tum the last time we spoke
Retail sales took an unex- the stakes are high in the with you heading into De-
pected dip in December in battle against inflation with cember," Abercrombie &
what could be a signal that higher prices eroding pur- Finch CEO Fran Horowitz
persistently rising inflation chasing power. told investors in a recent
is prompting a pullback in Persistently rising inflation financial update. "But as
consumer spending. has made goods more ex- receipts flowed, we just did
Consumers paid more for pensive all around, there- not have the inventory to
everything from groceries fore cutting purchasing keep up with demand."
to cars in 2021 as compa- power by making people The clothing company
nies passed along the costs stretch their dollars more for joined several others in
of pricier raw materials the same items. early January warning that
and supply chain delays. Retail sales fell 1.9% in De- inflation and supply chain
Spending remained strong cember, a key month in the problems would crimp fi-
thanks to pent-up demand holiday shopping season nancial forecasts, including
throughout the year, de- for many retailers. Econo- paint maker Sherwin-Wil-
spite the rising costs and mists expected a break- liams and medical products 37%, furniture prices rose ing investors that higher
longer waits for big-ticket even month, owing to the maker Cardinal Health. The 14% and everything from costs are dulling some of
items like cars and furniture. increased spending by Labor Department report- groceries to gas also rose. their financial forecasts.
Pressure from inflation has consumers in November as ed that inflation jumped Businesses, faced with high- Prices at the wholesale lev-
been building, though, as businesses warned about at its fastest pace in nearly er costs that threatened el surged by a record 9.7%
have concerns that con- product shortages and 40 years, when compared their profits, have been rais- for all of 2021, setting an
sumers will eventually pull- shipping delays early in the with a year earlier. The con- ing prices with the expec- annual record.
back on spending as they holiday season. sumer price index had al- tation that people will pay "December was a rough
tire of higher prices hitting Retail sales haven't fallen ready been steadily rising without shifting their hab- month for the American
their wallets with no relief in by that much since early throughout 2021 as a surge its too much. That helped consumer," said Anu Gag-
sight. in 2021 and the drop this in demand far outpaced profit margins surge in 2021 gar, global investment
Too much shouldn't be time occurred in the same supply for many raw mate- to their highest levels in strategist for Common-
read into one report, said month that inflation spiked rials and goods. Used car more than a decade, but wealth Financial Network.
Jeff Buchbinder, equity in several measures. prices soared more than companies are now warn- q