January 12, 2012 - According to The Information, theAmazonOn January 31, 2025, Prime Try Before You Buy will officially close. The service allowed Prime members to try on garments before purchasing and pay for them when they were satisfied. Amazon spokeswoman Maxine Tagay said in a statement.The reason for the closure of the service was that it was only available for a "limited number of items" and customers are increasingly using Amazon's new AI features to decide whether to make a purchase.
Tagay gives examples of these AI capabilities, such as "Virtual Try-On AR functionality," which renders 3D footwear from certain brands onto the user's feet using the smartphone camera. She also mentioned Amazon's "personalized size recommendation" feature, which uses large-scale language models (LLMs) to adjust size recommendations based on customer reviews.
In a statement, Tagay said, "Given that the 'Try Before You Buy' service is only available for a limited number of items, and that customers are increasingly using our new AI features like virtual try-ons, personalized size recommendations, review highlights, and improved sizing charts to ensure they find the right fit, we've decided to to phase out the 'try before you buy' option, effective January 31, 2025," he said. Of course, customers will still be able to enjoy fast, free shipping and easy, free returns on our full range of apparel."
According to 1AI, the "Prime Try Before You Buy" service was launched in 2018, initially called "Amazon Wardrobe" and later renamed to its current name.The service allows Prime members to order up to six items at a time, try them on for seven days, pay only for the ones they're happy with, and return the rest for free!.
CNBC noted that the closure of the "try before you buy" service is part of Amazon's multi-year cost-cutting program. Previously, Amazon has made massive layoffs, closed some of its brick-and-mortar stores, and scaled back its investment in the grocery industry.