Amazon Shutting Down Try Before You Buy Program, Pushing AI Tools

Amazon Prime’s Try Before You Buy program is coming to an end. After this month, Prime members will need to use other Amazon tools for help when shopping for clothes.

Introduced as Prime Wardrobe in 2018, Try Before You Buy allowed Prime members to select up to six clothes items sent to them before committing to a purchase. Shoppers could take seven days to try the garments out, and return clothes they didn’t like. Customers only paid for items kept.

While Try Before You Buy was a great tool for clothes shopping, it appears customers are adopting other Amazon tools for assistance. As such, Amazon is winding down the service.

“Given the combination of Try Before You Buy only scaling to a limited number of items and customers increasingly using our new AI-powered features like virtual try-on, personalized size recommendations, review highlights, and improved size charts to make sure they find the right fit, we’re phasing out the Try Before You Buy option, effective Jan. 31, 2025,” Amazon announced, per CNBC. 

Amazon’s AI Tools and Lower Return Rate

Since it’s more difficult and expensive to take returns than it is to ship products to shoppers, retailers are keen to implement cutting measures or, at least, reduce returns. Online stores need personnel to take in and inspect returns then restock the items. It’s estimated that retailers lost $816 billion in 2022 due to unwanted products.

Eliminating the Try Before You Buy program potentially saves Amazon losses from a practice known as “bracketing.” Clothes shoppers will often purchase several items of various sizes or colors and then return the ones they do not want.

While customers won’t be able to try before they buy, they can utilize Amazon’s AI fit tool. Using customer feedback, the AI can predict the appropriate size for shoppers, as well as provide valuable product insight and future recommendations.

In addition, Amazon’s Virtual Try-on feature uses augmented reality to show how an item looks on a customer. A shopper can see how a virtual version of a pair of shoes looks on their feet, or what color of lipstick best matches their skin tone.

While some Prime customers may be disappointed in the discontinuation of Try Before You Buy, Amazon is creating and updating tools that can help shoppers make faster, better decisions, while at the same time lowering Amazon’s product return rate. For now, Amazon shoppers can still try before they buy on some clothes — at least until the end of the month.