Amazon introduced this morning it’s opening Amazon Salon, the retailer’s first hair salon and a spot the place Amazon goals to check new applied sciences with most of the people. The salon will occupy over 1,500 sq. ft on Brushfield Street in London’s Spitalfields, the place Amazon says it would initially be trialing the usage of augmented actuality (AR) and “point-and-learn” expertise — the latter being a system that permit clients to level to merchandise on a show shelf to be able to be taught extra by way of movies and different content material that then seems on a show display.
To then order the merchandise, the purchasers will scan the QR code on the shelf, which takes them to the Amazon.co.uk procuring web page for the merchandise the place they’ll add it to their cart and take a look at.
Image Credits: Amazon
The salon’s AR expertise, in the meantime, might be used to permit clients to experiment by nearly making an attempt on completely different hair colours earlier than making a dedication to a brand new shade.
Amazon has already entered the comfort retailer market, grocery enterprise and different bodily retail, the place it’s innovating with new applied sciences like cashierless checkout, good grocery carts, and biometric techniques. But it’s not clear that Amazon really has ambitions to be within the salon enterprise itself. Instead, it appears the salon will largely function a testing floor for brand new applied sciences that Amazon will seemingly need to promote to different retail purchasers sooner or later, or maybe implement in its personal shops. And within the case of AR, Amazon could need to collect information on clients’ experiences it could actually use by itself procuring web site, too.
Hinting that its objectives usually are not concerning the salon enterprise itself, Amazon as we speak describes the salon as an “experiential venue where we showcase new products and technology,” and notes that it has no different plans to open extra salons at the moment.
The firm has additionally recruited an current salon proprietor, Elena Lavagni of Neville Hair & Beauty Salon, to assist with this challenge, as a substitute of hiring a brand new workers to run it long-term. Lavagni and her staff have beforehand offered hairdressing providers for different occasions, like Paris Fashion Week and the Cannes Film Festival.
Image Credits: Amazon
Amazon has not detailed what kind of information it would accumulate from clients who use the salon, nevertheless it’s clearly there to study how new retail applied sciences would work in a real-world setting. But the truth that Amazon is capturing buyer pictures for its hair shade digital try-on ought to elevate questions on what it plans to do with the info it collects from the brand new salon. Will it solely be used to be taught concerning the particular expertise being examined, or will or not it’s put to different makes use of, too?
As many recall, Amazon has a sophisticated historical past with its use of applied sciences like facial recognition and biometrics, having offered biometric facial recognition providers to legislation enforcement within the U.S., whereas its facial recognition expertise was the topic of a knowledge privateness lawsuit. And its Ring digicam firm continues to work in partnership with police. Customers must be advised in the event that they’re taking part in an Amazon analysis challenge, not simply having enjoyable with new tech merchandise.
Like different Amazon bodily shops, the salon will first be open to Amazon staff solely earlier than providing bookings to the broader public within the weeks to return.
