Combining the functionality of in-person shopping with the ease of e-commerce, Amazon’s “Try Before You Buy” service represented substantial additional value, available to Prime members. Specifically, once they had paid to become members, Prime customers could select up to six pieces of clothing, pairs of shoes, or accessories at a time, which then would be delivered to them on a trial basis. After determining their fit and feel, buyers had seven days to decide which items to keep and purchase. Any unwanted items could be returned within that window, free of charge.

But such an offering is expensive and difficult to maintain. It requires expansive, expensive, complex logistics and then reverse logistics operations. In addition, ensuring sufficient inventory to support consumers’ browsing is challenging, even for a global juggernaut like Amazon. In announcing the end of the program, Amazon did not focus primarily on its own costs though. Rather, citing customer complaints—which largely focused on the narrow selection of products available through the service and the long delivery waits to receive the selected items—Amazon proposed that by ending Try Before You Buy, it could serve shoppers better, through other means. 

The move aligns with Amazon’s ongoing efforts to establish simplified user experiences that adjust dynamically to shifting customer demands. Accordingly, it is introducing various AI-empowered tools that promise to improve size estimates and share them with consumers, so that they can better anticipate which versions of the clothing they order are likely to fit them best. In addition to informing the personalized recommendations that shoppers receive, these AI tools will develop and improve the size charts that the site publishes, making them available for more products. Amazon also highlights consumers’ ability to access its virtual try-on service, along with a summary of the consensus information published in other buyers’ reviews. 

By promising consumers the remarkable choice array that largely defines its competitive advantage, as well as guaranteeing Prime members various options for returning items for free, Amazon also anticipates that the closure of Try Before You Buy will not be too burdensome. Customers can still order multiple sizes or colors and return the versions they don’t want, whether by shipping those products back or bringing them to the retailer’s affiliate partners, such as Whole Foods, Staples, Kohl’s, and The UPS Store.

Discussion Questions

1. Have you ever used Amazon’s Try Before You Buy service? If so, was your experience positive or not? If not, why not?
2. Does eliminating this service make sense, in the long run? Pose arguments both before and against it.

Sources: Saman Shafiq, “Amazon Is Dropping Its ‘Try Before You Buy’ Purchasing Option: What to Know,” USA Today, January 14, 2025; Wyatte Grantham-Philips, “Amazon Is Ending Its ‘Try Before You Buy’ Option for Prime Members,” Associated Press, January 13, 2025; Tom Ryan, “Why Is Amazon Ending its ‘Try Before You Buy Program’?” Retail Wire, January 17, 2025; Breck Dumas, “Amazon Ending Its ‘Try Before You Buy’ Program,” FOX Business, January 13, 2025;