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Amazon opens first bricks-and-mortar bookstore

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Re: Amazon opens first bricks-and-mortar bookstore

#11

Post by whoiskevin »

maxerickson wrote: post #9
asciimo wrote: post #7

If I could spend a couple hours comfortably browsing real books and then take some of them home on my Kindle, I would be very happy.

Can't you do this at any library or book store?

Maybe the library but the book store...well not if you are then taking home only what you purchase from Amazon instead of the place you just comfortably browsed inventory. I find it hard to understand the logic of using a place of business in order to take advantage and not purchase from them. People justify it in many ways but none of those justifications stands up to examination.

Re: Amazon opens first bricks-and-mortar bookstore

#12

Post by OrwellianChild »

thinkling wrote: post #3

I'm very curious what Amazon is trying to do here. Can the business plan pencil out by selling enough additional goods to pay the store's operating expenses? Is the real goal to expose more people to the Kindle who wouldn't otherwise see one, i.e. it's a Trojan?

Their use of floor space to show all the books cover-facing-out seems to suggest that they're looking to move dead-tree books too...

Barnes & Noble definitely became a showroom for the Nook, but it was also selling books. This might imply that Amazon is re-deploying the same strategy but without the dead-weight of under-performing brick-and-mortar stores. (i.e. Amazon gets to use it's data to only put stores in places where it knows traffic, volume, and customer profiles will perform well.) I expect Barnes & Noble knew much less about its customers when it set up its network of stores...

Re: Amazon opens first bricks-and-mortar bookstore

#13

Post by hellbanner »

whoiskevin wrote: post #11
maxerickson wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't you do this at any library or book store?

Maybe the library but the book store...well not if you are then taking home only what you purchase from Amazon instead of the place you just comfortably browsed inventory. I find it hard to understand the logic of using a place of business in order to take advantage and not purchase from them. People justify it in many ways but none of those justifications stands up to examination.

Right, I remember reading about bookstores that were kicking people out who were scanning ISBN barcodes to buy the same book on Amazon for cheaper (to their cost. Shipping costs adds up but not on the end-user)

Re: Amazon opens first bricks-and-mortar bookstore

#14

Post by atarian »

thinkling wrote: post #3

I'm very curious what Amazon is trying to do here. Can the business plan pencil out by selling enough additional goods to pay the store's operating expenses? Is the real goal to expose more people to the Kindle who wouldn't otherwise see one, i.e. it's a Trojan?

Amazon.com started off with books, but now they sell everything. I can only imagine what an innocent-looking bookstore from Amazon will eventually become in a decade.

Re: Amazon opens first bricks-and-mortar bookstore

#15

Post by mgkimsal »

OrwellianChild wrote: post #12
thinkling wrote: post #3

I'm very curious what Amazon is trying to do here. Can the business plan pencil out by selling enough additional goods to pay the store's operating expenses? Is the real goal to expose more people to the Kindle who wouldn't otherwise see one, i.e. it's a Trojan?

Their use of floor space to show all the books cover-facing-out seems to suggest that they're looking to move dead-tree books too... Barnes & Noble definitely became a showroom for the Nook, but it was also selling books. This might imply that Amazon is re-deploying the same strategy but without the dead-weight of under-performing brick-and-mortar stores. (i.e. Amazon gets to use it's data to only put stores in place…

> I expect Barnes & Noble knew much less about its customers when it set up its network of stores...

There may have been less available data altogether, but what data was available indicated people shopped in and near malls, hence a lot of B&N in malls. But with malls seemingly slipping away, B&N will have to relocate or adjust more radically.

Re: Amazon opens first bricks-and-mortar bookstore

#17

Post by vessenes »

Interestingly a lot of data they say they're using is available to any bookstore. I wonder if there are small mom-and-pop chains that use Amazon ratings and sales ranks as cues for their buyer.

A tie-in to an e-reader that still makes the bookstore money is a killer feature for me as a reader. Indies still haven't gotten that totally sorted yet, and it keeps me buying more paper books than I'd like, and also buying less books at indie's than I'd like at the same time.

Re: Amazon opens first bricks-and-mortar bookstore

#18

Post by devindotcom »

thinkling wrote: post #3

I'm very curious what Amazon is trying to do here. Can the business plan pencil out by selling enough additional goods to pay the store's operating expenses? Is the real goal to expose more people to the Kindle who wouldn't otherwise see one, i.e. it's a Trojan?

The tech is pretty central in the store, and there are lots of people talking about prime, showing off selection on TV, etc. Really it's actually fulfilling the duty of a book store in U Village though, the Barnes & Noble there died a few years back and it's a huuuge shopping center. I don't think Amazon is trying to make a lot of money off it, it's kind of a lark but if it floats, they can open a few more to have brand presence next to Apple and Microsoft.

Re: Amazon opens first bricks-and-mortar bookstore

#20

Post by dragonwriter »

maxerickson wrote: post #9
asciimo wrote: post #7

If I could spend a couple hours comfortably browsing real books and then take some of them home on my Kindle, I would be very happy.

Can't you do this at any library or book store?

> Can't you do this at any library or book store?

Swap Kindle for Nook, and you definitely can in B&N.

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