Anansi eBook news: Will Amazon Launch Bricks-And-Mortar Stores?
Anansi eBook news: Will Amazon Launch Bricks-And-Mortar Stores?
By Dianna Dilworth on February 3, 2012 3:38 PM
Rumors are going around that Amazon is going to launch a bricks-and-mortar store that would compete with the likes of Target, Walmart and Costco.
But would the competitive advantage be? Amazon’s business model is based on providing inventory on every kind of random product that you could imagine and delivering it within days. They certainly wouldn’t be able to keep this kind of inventory on hand in stores.
In addition, while much of Amazon’s business is still from print books, DVDs and CDs, the company is banking on the proliferation of digital media, which is why they are focusing so much on the Kindle and Kindle Fire and selling these devices at such low prices. Why would it make sense to open a physical store to sell digital items? Perhaps to compete with Barnes & Noble’s Nook business, which is known to have better customer service than Amazon because of in-store offerings.
Perhaps it will simply be a showroom to sell items that will later be delivered. Launch.is imagines such a scenario: “There wouldn’t have to be any inventory, you would simply play with the stuff, talk to a professional and swipe your Amazon Prime credit card (or Amazon phone) and have it at your house in the next 24 to 48 hours.”
What do you think?
