Amazon Opens 400 Physical Bookstores
Amazon has planned to establish hundreds of physical book stores at a time when overall retail is sluggish.
Amazon usually delivers the books one orders to his or her home. Now, it is interested in driving people to their books. The CEO of US mall operator General Growth Partners, Sandeep Mathrani, has informed that the concept of the American e-commerce company, called colloquially as a bookstore, has been opened in up to 400 locations across America.
"In the mall business, the impact of ecommerce is a lot less. It's actually your friend, not your enemy. It’s a very interesting evolution, because the cost of the last mile is that important," Sanjeev spoke to investors on February 2. GGP and the online retailer refused to comment. Setting up a bookstore chain would not be an unexpected measure taken by the Seattle-based company, which started as an E-book catalog twenty years ago, with its promise to offer an extensive variety and more convenience than conventional stores.
The US retailer aggressively cut prices, a tactic criticized by writers, and held responsible for the closure of a number of physical bookstores, including Borders.
Amazon’s main business is rapidly growing at a double-digit speed, whereas the overall retail is suffering from a slowdown. Less people are visiting malls, in part because the online trading company is too cheap, easy, and convenient.
MasterCard SpendingPulse revealed that throughout the holiday season, retail sales increased by 7.9%, but online sales rose by 20%. As retails sales continue to migrate online, a measure into physical stores looks to be counter intuitive for Amazon, the largest ecommerce company of the world.
Amazon has one brick and mortar bookstore, which was established by it in Seattle in November. Books are sold at the same price as those charged online, the organization said. Customers are also provided an opportunity to peruse Amazon devices including Fire TV, Fire Tablet series, Echo and Kindle.
Amazon also entered the physical book publishing industry and operates many prints now. If the plans to establish many bookstores were true, it would not be the only technology business doing so. Apple established its first Apple Store in 2001 to display its mobile devices and computers.
Microsoft Corporation which has over 100 physical stores across the North American region, established a flagship store based in Manhattan in September. Samsung and Google have also been tinkering with the idea to a certain extent.
Arts Technica reported that Sandeep failed to guess a timeframe for the expansion of bookstores by Amazon.
