Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Online going Physical: Amazon just opened its first physical bookshop

Amazon got its start as an online bookseller, and now, over 20 years later, it's decided to sell books the old-fashioned way. Last week Amazon opened a store in Seattle called Amazon Books.

One may ask why the company that destroyed the physical bookstore industry would now want to operate a physical bookstore…But there a few facts that might make this a good strategy.

First, Amazon says that it won't entirely be doing things like a traditional store, however; it'll be relying on Amazon.com data — including customer ratings, sales totals, and Goodread's popularity — to decide which books to stock. As a physical retailer, to have this combination of information readily available is great competitive advantage.
Moreover, Amazon has the capacity to create an offline customer experience that is relatively consistent with the online one. In a multichannel marketing environment, to have the ability to create a consistent customer experience is also a great advantage.

Second, in addition to selling books, Amazon is also going to be putting its devices on display. Visitors will be able to try Kindles, the Echo, the Fire TV, and Fire Tablets

Finally, a store can be a same-day delivery hub.


Further reading:

No comments: