Amazon Intends To Open Its First Retail Store In Manhattan

Amazon, the online retail giant, is planning to open its first retail store, according to people familiar with the situation. According to sources, the physical retail store will be opened in 34 street, Manhattan, New York, and will open in the US holiday shopping season. Before that, Amazon They have always established and developed their own businesses on the basis of highly competitive commodity pricing and rapid delivery service, but they can not compare with traditional retailers in terms of goods purchase and availability. The function of this entity store will be equivalent to a small warehouse, which only provides the same day delivery and product return service within New York, and its inventory is limited. In addition, the entity store will also accept online orders.

In addition, sources said Amazon might also use the physical store as an inventory display space, especially Amazon's own equipment, such as Kindle ebook reader, Fire smart phone and Fire TV set-top box.

So far, other details about the entity store are unknown, such as the size of the store, the length of the lease and the number of stocks. According to sources, Amazon may change its plan and point out that the store is Amazon's "trial product" in the physical retail sector. It may not succeed, but if it can succeed, Amazon may open more physical stores in other American cities.

Another source said that Amazon had been planning to open a physical store for many years, and even considered two years ago to open a store in Seattle, but the plan ended in abortion. Amazon was there Wal-Mart Kindle has been sold in retail stores in Taghit, but these retailers have removed them two years ago, apparently worrying about Amazon's growing strength in the retail sector.

on Manhattan As for the location of the store, Chess Wellesz Chase Welles, executive vice president of real estate service company SCG Retail, pointed out: "the traffic volume of the 34 street is unparalleled."

Matt Nemol, analyst at Wells Fargo Bank (Matt Nemer) believes that the purpose of opening a physical store is to "promote Amazon's brand". He pointed out: "delivering goods on the same day, placing orders online and picking up goods in stores are all very popular concepts, and Amazon needs to be the central point of these concepts."

Online ordering and picking up goods in stores has become a very popular way of shopping. Retailers such as WAL-MART, home depot and Messi department store have already begun to offer this kind of service. Other retailers employ Google, eBay or venture company Deliv to provide delivery services, which are then taken to the store and delivered to consumers.

But at the same time, the operation of physical stores may also bring risks. So far, Amason has been avoiding some of the costs associated with retailing, such as tenancies, employee pay and inventory management. Amazon's profit margins have already been very thin, which may lead to further damage to its profit margins.

Before Amazon, some other online retailers have already opened physical stores, such as apparel online retailers Bonobos, eyewear contractors Warby Parker and subscription beauty products services Birchbox. Among them, Bonobos opened its first entity store in 2011, and its total number of stores has reached 10, and plans to increase to 40 in 2016. Bonobos provides limited inventory in the physical store for consumers to try on, choose the appropriate size, style and style clothing; then, Bonobos will pick up the goods in the warehouse, then send it to the consumer, or consumers can choose to pick up the goods later.

According to a person familiar with the situation, Amazon's idea of setting up a physical store draws on the experience of Home Retail Group, a British retailer, who allows customers to order eBay products online and then pick up goods in their Argos retail stores. Argos expects that by the end of this year, the service will be launched in 650 physical stores, and the eBay seller using this service will reach 65 thousand.