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Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Location
- jonknee 12y agoI assume this will be more of a Kindle showroom with a bunch of Amazon lockers for product pickup. They're always trying to reduce shipping costs and having people pick stuff up is a good way to keep the shippers on their toes.
- rbinv 12y agoPaywalled.
- badmadrad 12y agohttp://www.engadget.com/2014/10/09/amazon-store-manhattan/ http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/09/amazon-store-manhattan/ Seems unnecessary. I guess Amazon is getting so bored making money in sane ways that they want to lose money in insane ways.
- mpg33 12y agoYou mean like that phone experiment..yup.
- chk 12y agoThough I agree, it does sound insane. What would they stock? They can't supply everything obviously. I think it will be a good outreach to put a face to the company you're buying from, and make it more personal. I'm sure the employees will have little Kindles so you can quickly order things in stock. And gain the confidence from buyers that are hesitant buying things from online retailers. Potentially this could hurt stores like Best Buy, or the like. If Amazon can provide a better customer service in person, than people will choose them over the other. I'll be curious to see how this plays out for them.
- vlunkr 12y agoI don't think they would have too much trouble knowing what to stock, they would just look at their sales. Stock the most popular items, new releases of movies/books/games, and phones, tablets and PC's. On the other hand, that would make them nearly equivalent to any of the other "brick and mortar" businesses. I wonder if they want to focus on showcasing their own products, like an apple store. They have been pushing the advertising on amazon fire TV and phone a lot.
- Kalium 12y agoWhy not have the stock respond to people? Amazon can probably have their stock be adaptive.
- DannyBee 12y ago"Though I agree, it does sound insane. What would they stock?" ???? I would expect they are only going to stock amazon stuff. Maybe amazon branded + amazonbasics. Why would they stock anything else? To me, this seems like a fairly obvious play: They have had trouble getting playing with fire branded stuff in their internet and tv-only campaigns. People actually want to play with the devices. Given the choice between buying space in best buy among tons of other companies, and leaving it to the whims of blue shirted people to sell their stuff, or doing it themselves, they chose "doing it themselves". That seems sane to me.
- bentcorner 12y agoIt makes sense to me too. I've never owned an Amazon device, or (I think) even touched one. I've heard middling things about them, but holding one in the hand could be enough to persuade me to pick one up.
- michaelbuckbee 12y agoIn many urban areas it can be challenging to receive packages, so having a pickup spot in the middle of several million people could well make sense. Apple's flagship Manhattan store famously does quite well as a showcase for their products and helps to sell millions for them. Amazon could be doing that math that for every user we get into the ecosystem we can extract X in lifetime value from book, video and app purchases (again a way it could make sense). Also, you can consider this maybe Amazon trying to become Walmart faster than Walmart can become Amazon. Having physical stores still counts for much in the retail sector, having one (or a bunch) would potentially give them leverage and more options. They _already_ have a massive nationwide system of warehouses and logistic centers, is it that crazy that they could move products into brick and mortar shops as well as the presumably much more complicated process of people's homes?
- minimax 12y agoI don't know as much about NYC geography, but if they put one of these somewhere in the loop in Chicago I would definitely use it. I would much rather spend my lunch break walking down to the Amazon pickup depot than let a package sit on my front door all day.
- civilian 12y agoFYI: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000841451 http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000841451
- jeffgreco 12y agoNone near my Chicago zip. Loved it in LA though.
- timjahn 12y agoDoesn't having to pick up a package defeat the purpose of delivery? If I wanted to pick up packages, I'd go to stores and buy things. I don't want to go to the store though, so I pay Amazon to deliver it to me.
- davidw 12y agoAmazon makes a lot of money - but they also spend a lot. They have pretty slim margins.
- smutticus 12y agoAmazon has recorded a net loss 4 out of the last 6 quarters. Read into that what you will, but I don't think they're in any position to 'get bored making money'. http://services.corporate-ir.net/SEC/Document.Service?id=P3VybD1hSFIwY0RvdkwyRndhUzUwWlc1cmQybDZZWEprTG1OdmJTOWtiM2R1Ykc5aFpDNXdhSEEvWVdOMGFXOXVQVkJFUmlacGNHRm5aVDA1TnpFek56STNKbk4xWW5OcFpEMDFOdz09JnR5cGU9MiZmbj1BbWF6b24ucGRm http://services.corporate-ir.net/SEC/Document.Service?id=P3V...
- delecti 12y agoIt's pretty well known that Amazon intentionally reinvests all of its profits (and then some) back into new business ventures. So perhaps it would have been more accurate to say "getting so bored expanding into new markets."
- anigbrowl 12y agoI'm not so sure. I think the future of consumer durables is showrooms with very little inventory but a huge number of things on display. If you want it right now, you pay full price, but if you want it delivered tomorrow (from your local amazon warehouse) then it's 10% off. In other words you no longer 'go to the store' because it's economically inefficient to store many units of the same thing on expensive prime real estate. Instead almost all the warehouse space of existing stores is turned into floor space and they only have 1 of each item, although they keep a small stock of consumables.
- cordovas 12y agoSince we all don't have a wsj account... http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-to-open-first-physical-store-in-manhattan-2014-10-09 http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-to-open-first-physic...
- SEJeff 12y agoAnd if you do, simply take the title, and dump it into Google. The wsj has a stupid rule where they won't require you to have an account to read the full article if your referrer is google. I created a small greasemonkey script to set the referrer on all wsj websites to google. Works like a champ!
- toomuchtodo 12y ago> I created a small greasemonkey script to set the referrer on all wsj websites to google. Works like a champ! Gist please! EDIT: Quick google search found it: http://userscripts-mirror.org/scripts/review/72558.html http://userscripts-mirror.org/scripts/review/72558.html
- PawelDecowski 12y agoIsn’t that against Google’s T&Cs? I’m sure a website is not allowed to present different content to GoogleBot than it does to regular users. Not sure if there’s a rule that says it can’t present different content when a user clicks on a search result vs goes directly to the website or from another referrer.
- mfonda 12y agoThey're probably using "First Click Free". See http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-click-free-for-web-search.html http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-cli...
- PawelDecowski 12y agoThanks for this. Good to know about it.
- wiredfool 12y agoSo, like Argos, but with the internet and stuff. And presumably with better fixtures.
- brianbreslin 12y agoHow many warehouses does Amazon operate in the suburbs outside NYC? I bet they can already do same day delivery on lots of products. Will be interesting to see what inventory they put on display here. Or how its innovative? Maybe giant interactive walls where they let you browse tons of their stuff thats upstairs?
- noir_lord 12y agoWe have those (sans giant walls) in the UK. They are called Argos. http://girlinlondon.com/argos-inside-one-of-the-uks-most-peculiar-stores/ http://girlinlondon.com/argos-inside-one-of-the-uks-most-pec... for a good description.
- chk 12y agoI thought of a similar idea one day when day dreaming at my old retail job. What if in the future, all the stores become so small, malls could house 1000s of stores. You could go in, touch the product, try it on, but they were all just display models. And than you'd order it in store, and it would be on your doorstep the next day. No need to keep inventory in the store, and you pay a much smaller rental fee. And shrink could be almost reduced to zero.
- noir_lord 12y agoHere in the UK that's how many shops (and some chains that are still extant) started out. You went into the local grocers which had a counter/hatch (think post office/bank), You told him what you wanted (or he your weekly order) and he (or usually his boy) would then drop the merchandise off at your house. The Supermarkets pretty much paid to your corner grocer (economies of scale, later opening hours, more variety of items, the ability to do your shop yourself as and when needed and the increasing wealth of the UK (cars and refrigerators)). It would be amusing if we went back to a high tech version of that.
- chiph 12y agoIf you go to the local Best Buy, they're already on their way to this model. They have Apple, Samsung, Nintendo, and now Microsoft mini-stores within their large space. Someone has already picked up on the "micro-mall" phrase. They're running a store where merchants rent display space, and they handle the cash registers and stocking for them. http://thevillageindoormarketplace.com/become-a-merchant/micro-mall-merchant/ http://thevillageindoormarketplace.com/become-a-merchant/mic...
- vonnik 12y agoReminds me of the eBay store scene from The 40-year-old Virgin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGxRg5I7r5s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGxRg5I7r5s The future of e-commerce is bricks and mortar (?!)
- eddieroger 12y agoThat wasn't an eBay store, but her job was selling other people's junk on eBay for them. As for the future of e-commerce, it's whoever can get the product to me fastest. Brick and Mortar still wins that race, but lose on price more often than not.
- vonnik 12y agoThere are a lot of products that bricks and mortar lose on, simply because they can't carry the diversity of inventory that ecommerce shops can access.
- eddieroger 12y agoAgreed. It's on the b&m stores to keep a product mix that will sell the most efficiently, and the ones who are surviving are the ones figuring that out. I'm lucky enough (or unlucky, depending on perspective) to live in a city with a Fry's - there aren't a lot of products NewEgg can win on if I'm feeling impatient, for example.
- vonnik 12y agoNot sure why that comment got voted down. If that's wrong I don't want to be right.
- Havoc 12y agoWhy? Their entire competitive advantage & business approach is based on the opposite?
- DannyBee 12y agoBecause they need a way to let people play with things like fire hd, and can't rely on best buy to have their best interests at heart?
- Havoc 12y agoPeople buy stuff off Amazon without playing with it first all the time? I did & I'm not even in the US (Kindle). I can see a Manhattan store working as a novelty type deal but beyond that Amazon is online in my books.
- ctdonath 12y agoI'm sure someone can find a niche for it. Stock "deal of the day" items, top sellers, small items (not worth cost of shipping but buyers willing to drive to get), and ship-to-store (lowered shipping, don't worry about shipper leaving it on porch to get stolen). Also provides a live face for service.
- dyeje 12y agoSeems cool. Picking up from a store can be useful when it's something you're worried about sitting on your doorstep all day. Could be a great way to improve customer service as well. I'm curious as to whether the store will actually stock non-amazon products.
- civilian 12y agoMy friend has the opposite problem--- all packages go to the apartment manager's office. And his hours are allegedly 10-5, but he leaves early all the time. She picks up her packages at an amazon locker because the manager keeps the packages too secure.
- wutbrodo 12y ago> Picking up from a store can be useful when it's something you're worried about sitting on your doorstep all day. This is almost certainly not the main intention of this move, since a store is waayyyy more expensive than a locker and no more convenient, and Amazon has had lockers for a looong time (I can't receive packages at my house so I use the locker one block away extensively).
- nchlswu 12y agoI'd be curious what proportion of public facing space would be lockers. I imagine it'd be great to showcase flash sales and extremely high demand items. I really believe a retailer selling physical goods needs some sort of physical presence and hope this is something interesting.
- dwild 12y agoThey could easily sell displaying space too for a monthly cost.
- admbk 12y agoThis is probably to help feed the media buzz when they release a new Kindle or such. TV loves these " people in Manhattan queued all night in front of the store in anticipation of iThingy 15.7 "
- DannyBee 12y agoYes, which are almost as useless as the "sold x million first weekend" metrics that get parrotted by media. If the user base increased by 50% between the two releases, they can convince 50% less people to upgrade the first weekend, and still sell more the first weekend than they did last time. The sold x million certainly tells you some hard dollar number that is uninteresting, but it gives you no idea how popular the device will actually be, even though it sounds like it should.
- DanielBMarkham 12y agoWonder how long it will be until we start seeing subdivisions built around Distribution Centers, with robots delivering the goods almost immediately after ordering. 20 years?
- SapphireSun 12y agoWith robot cars doing most of the work? Maybe 10 years, though it's hardly necessary that the subdivision gets build around the DC when you can build a DC close enough to the subdivision to make it worth your while.
- thavalai 12y agoTime to buy BestBuy stock. They just became an acquisition target for Amazon.
- lovemenot 12y agoUX: Relentless body and eye tracking from the moment you walk in. Physical identity linked to your Amazon account. No opt-out. No cash payment. Tight integration to online experience. Customer is seated beside a large touch screen, product arrives kaiten sushi style. Some visibility of robotic pickers behind the scenes. Reservation of seating days in advance.
- jessaustin 12y agoShut up and take my money! Can you install one of these things on my toilet?
- chris_mahan 12y agoThey ship by drone from the warehouse to the store in 30 minutes. You order something, 30 minutes later, after you drink an expensive latte and use their free wifi to watch some TV show from their network, you get your hard-to-find item, and you go home happy.
- wildwood 12y agoI could see Amazon using this as a NYC media presence, as much as a store. They could do readings by authors, launch events for Amazon original video content, Kindle product launches, and so on. Also, six foot HDMI cables. Everybody needs those.
- Ryel 12y agoAmazon has nothing to lose from this store. - They will ride the media wave when a product launches/when they do a stunt like drone delivery and have people waiting outside. - You can bet they will be testing in-house tracking/advertising by analyzing their customers' actions under their own conditions - You can bet they will sell at least a small number of their flagship products Kind of surprising that they didnt already have a brick-and-mortar location.