Amazon shutting down Prime Try Before You Buy program in favor of "AI-powered features"

What just happened? Amazon's Prime Try Before You Buy service, which lets users try items for a week before deciding if they want to purchase them, is being closed down. According to the tech giant, the popularity of its AI-powered features was a major factor in its decision. But the main reason is likely that Amazon wants to cut down its volume of returns.

Launching for all Prime subscribers in 2018 when it was then called Prime Wardrobe, the Prime Try Before You Buy service allows Prime members to order up to six items of clothing, shoes and accessories that were part of the program, try them out at home for up to a week, and return anything they don't like. Customers are only charged for the items they keep.

On January 31, around seven years after it arrived, Amazon will shut down the Try Before You Buy service. A spokesperson said the reason for the closure was partly due to the program featuring a limited number of items. They also said AI-powered features such as virtual try-on – which uses a smartphone camera to place virtual renders of shoes on your feet – personalized size recommendations, review highlights, and improved size charts mean trying clothing items on at home before buying them is less important – again, that's according to Amazon.

The main reason for the closure, one that Amazon doesn't mention, is likely related to returns. The company is trying to cut down its returns volume, which skyrocketed during the pandemic and has remained high since then. In March 2023, Amazon rolled out a warning label on "frequently returned" products in the hope it would discourage customers from purchasing low-quality or misleading items they were more likely to return.

It's speculated that some people abuse the Try Before You Buy service, including picking items for a single event with no intention of buying them, or fraudulently returning older clothes in place of the new ones.

The cessation also represents the latest cost-cutting move by Amazon. The company has laid off around 27,000 people since 2020 from divisions including Amazon Web Services (AWS), human resources, advertising, and Twitch. It has also announced the closure of all its Amazon Books, Amazon 4-star, and Pop Up stores across the US and UK, totaling 68 locations, shut down several Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations, and phased out its "Just Walk Out" technology at Amazon Fresh grocery stores in the US, replacing it with Amazon Dash Carts.