Amazon’s Physical Book Shop is here.
While it’s not the first physical store they have built it’s certainly causing a buzz in the media with a taste of irony.
The launch of Amazon Books, as the store is called, comes alongside news that Google has reportedly abandoned plans to open its first U.S. retail store. However, the ironic part is that Amazon is the company charged with the destruction of the physical bookstore industry, but now they’re building their own.
Let’s take a look at some of the top articles on the subject.
Why Amazon just opened a physical bookstore
Matthew Yglesias, writing for Vox, suggests why Amazon is now entering brick-and-mortar retail:
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” Most likely because Amazon’s long-term strategy is simple: It wants everyone, everywhere to buy everything from Amazon… These days you probably could buy everything you need online, but almost nobody actually does. Which means nobody buys everything from Amazon. Which is unacceptable.” – Why Amazon just opened a physical bookstore
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He also goes on to state other reasons such as being able to use the Amazon physical store as a same-day delivery hub.
“…same-day delivery requires stockpiles of merchandise that are more numerous and located more directly adjacent to population and transportation hubs than the company’s existing warehouses.” – Matthew Yglesias
This is a point Stephen Vowles, Argos Marketing Manager, believes Argos has over Amazon and why they’re keenly eyeing up the “digital retail leader” crown reports The Drum.
Argos has a network of 740 stores (Argos About Us) throughout the UK which gives them a fantastic delivery hub, and why it has launched it’s own same-day service – initially free for orders over £50 – and a ‘pick up in-store within 60 seconds’.
Look Inside Amazon’s First Physical Store
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[column size=”3-4″ last=”1″]Time published a visual tour of the store which showcases it’s unique elements such as facing all of the books with their cover out rather than spine out. This is an interesting deviation from traditional book retailers who stack as many books on their shelves as possible leaving room for only a few covers to face out.
By choosing this method Amazon are creating a more visually stimulating shopping environment but also allowing the book covers to better sell their content. [/column]
“Your book cover is one of the most important aspects of marketing your book. However much time you spend on getting people to your book sales page, they won’t download a sample or buy the book if the cover isn’t enticing.” Book Cover Design, Joanna Penn, The Creative Penn.
You will literally never guess how to shop at Amazon’s new bookstore
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“For a first-timer, pulling out an app does seem like a surprisingly round-about way of in-store shopping, especially from a retailer known for convenience.” – Thu-Huong Ha, Quartz
That’s right, Thu-Huong Ha writing for Quartz isn’t all that impressed with the shopping experience of the new Amazon Physical Store. [/column]
This is because you have 3 options to discover the price of a book, none of them include looking at the price sticker. Instead you can:
- Scan the book with the Amazon App
- Scan at a dedicated kiosk
- Ask a member of staff to scan for the price
“Most brick-and-mortar stores have suffered greatly with savvier shoppers using their phones to price-compare, and instead of shying away, Amazon Books trains customers to do that very thing within its own ecosystem.
Which is exactly what we didn’t want to do at a bookstore. We wanted to put our phones away—to get away from glowing screens for a bit—and bury our noses in books…” Amazon’s first brick-and-mortar store: One big ad for the Amazon app, Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica.
Will Amazon see success?
I’m sure the question on the lips of many retail experts is “Will the Amazon Physical Store experiment be a success? Or will it flop like the Fire phone?”
As the story develops over the coming months and years we’ll keep this article updated. To keep informed of any future updates and articles you can sign up to our email list for free.
