Amazon opens first physical clothing store

US retail giant Amazon launched its first-ever physical clothing store on Wednesday.

The Amazon Style brand opened its doors in a shopping centre near Los Angeles as the company plans to compete with big chains such as Macy's.

"Amazon Style is designed to help customers discover looks they'll love through a personalized and convenient shopping experience using advanced technology and world-class operations," the company said in a statement.

Purchasing is to be highly automated. With the Amazon Shopping app, customers can send items to a fitting room, where they can use a touchscreen to, among other things, browse more options, request more sizes or styles that are delivered directly to their fitting room within minutes.

With an area of almost 2,800 square metres, the store is significantly larger than Amazon's previous shops.

Among other things, the group operates smaller chains for groceries and other products. Amazon also owns the Whole Foods supermarket chain.

The company is also planning other larger department stores to better showcase its product range in more places beyond the internet, according to US media.