Amazon expands into physical retail! Or will open a physical department store

It is learned that according to foreign media reports, Amazon recently plans to open large-scale physical retail stores similar to department stores in the United States, with an area of ​​30,000 square feet and will provide top consumer brands. It is reported that most department stores in the United States cover an area of ​​100,000 square feet, which is more than three times the former.

Still, the move clearly carries risks, not least because department stores’ share of U.S. retail sales has fallen from 14.5% in 1985 to about 2.9% today. And Amazon’s own-store sales fell about 5% last year as more shoppers moved online.

Amazon declined to comment on the report.

It is learned that Amazon has tried physical stores before. In 2015, it opened its first physical bookstore, Amazon Books, in Seattle, and in 2017 it acquired the US Whole Food chain for US$13.7 billion.

Amazon, which has surpassed Walmart to become the world's largest retailer outside of China, has played a major role in driving online shopping, a trend that has marginalized many brick-and-mortar stores.

But some analysts say that despite the decline of department stores, Amazon's strategy makes sense. Too many people have forgotten the first principles of retail and ignored the importance of merchandising and store management. In this context, Amazon's entry into physical retail makes more sense, especially since these new stores will be much smaller than large department stores and will be located in places with high customer traffic, and their success rate is relatively high.

Editor✎ Irene/

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