New York gets its first Amazon bookshop
We have all shopped on Amazon for long, but walking into a physical Amazon store would be a unique experience indeed. Not for America. The US got its seventh Amazon bookstore, New York's first, on May 25. "It makes it feel more accessible," said Amanda Martinez, who left with a JJ Abrams novel. The ecommerce giant opened its first bookstore in Seattle in 2015.
A physical store offers several benefits
A bricks and mortar store has several advantages: it helps in boosting brand awareness, it facilitates consumer interactions that are not as convenient online, and that too, at cheaper rates. Moreover, they are not just bookstores, "but a culture and a community", says Leigh Altshuler, spokeswoman for the Strand Book Store. Analyst Tuna Amobi says physical Amazon stores are here to stay.
Another six shops by 2017 end
The company's "customer-obsessed" leaning drives its physical expansion too, says Jennifer Cast, vice president of Amazon Books. It can use its data on what people are reading, to determine which books to stock. By year end, it plans to have 13 shops in the US. It is also expanding into university campuses, and experimenting with grocery and convenience shops.
