Did you know that Amazon has 10 book stores? Actual physical locations.
They announced their 10th last month, see the full story here.
The linked article makes a really great point. These shops are clearly not an experiment by Amazon. They are serious retail outlets.
Last year in this article, it was reported that Amazon plan to open far more. Hundreds in fact.
It looks like they will also bring this new concept to the U.K. before long.
Amazon may be well ahead of the curve. There is innovation in all of the above but, there are also old tried and tested methods right at the heart of these developments.
For years experts have been telling us that retail decline was the fault of online shopping habits and specifically the influence of people like Amazon. Less people visit the high street now, for many reasons. Dare I say, that those reasons are selfish for the most part.
Convenience should never take precedent over community. Alas, it has. People care more about convenience, discounts and special offers. That’s the reality.
And here is Amazon, rolling back the years to an old method of bricks and mortar physical location retailing.
Maybe old things become new things eventually.
Maybe traditional retail isn’t dead just yet.