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Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Location

online.wsj.com

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Re: Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Location

#11

Post by PawelDecowski »

SEJeff wrote: post #7
cordovas wrote: post #5

Since we all don't have a wsj account... http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-to-open-first-physic...

And if you do, simply take the title, and dump it into Google. The wsj has a stupid rule where they won't require you to have an account to read the full article if your referrer is google. I created a small greasemonkey script to set the referrer on all wsj websites to google. Works like a champ!

Isn’t that against Google’s T&Cs? I’m sure a website is not allowed to present different content to GoogleBot than it does to regular users. Not sure if there’s a rule that says it can’t present different content when a user clicks on a search result vs goes directly to the website or from another referrer.

Re: Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Location

#12

Post by brianbreslin »

How many warehouses does Amazon operate in the suburbs outside NYC? I bet they can already do same day delivery on lots of products. Will be interesting to see what inventory they put on display here. Or how its innovative? Maybe giant interactive walls where they let you browse tons of their stuff thats upstairs?

Re: Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Location

#13

Post by noir_lord »

brianbreslin wrote: post #12

How many warehouses does Amazon operate in the suburbs outside NYC? I bet they can already do same day delivery on lots of products. Will be interesting to see what inventory they put on display here. Or how its innovative? Maybe giant interactive walls where they let you browse tons of their stuff thats upstairs?

We have those (sans giant walls) in the UK.

They are called Argos.

http://girlinlondon.com/argos-inside-one-of-the-uks-most-pec... for a good description.

Re: Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Location

#15

Post by chk »

badmadrad wrote: post #4

http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/09/amazon-store-manhattan/ Seems unnecessary. I guess Amazon is getting so bored making money in sane ways that they want to lose money in insane ways.

Though I agree, it does sound insane. What would they stock? They can't supply everything obviously. I think it will be a good outreach to put a face to the company you're buying from, and make it more personal. I'm sure the employees will have little Kindles so you can quickly order things in stock. And gain the confidence from buyers that are hesitant buying things from online retailers. Potentially this could hurt stores like Best Buy, or the like. If Amazon can provide a better customer service in person, than people will choose them over the other. I'll be curious to see how this plays out for them.

Re: Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Location

#16

Post by mfonda »

PawelDecowski wrote: post #11
SEJeff wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if you do, simply take the title, and dump it into Google. The wsj has a stupid rule where they won't require you to have an account to read the full article if your referrer is google. I created a small greasemonkey script to set the referrer on all wsj websites to google. Works like a champ!

Isn’t that against Google’s T&Cs? I’m sure a website is not allowed to present different content to GoogleBot than it does to regular users. Not sure if there’s a rule that says it can’t present different content when a user clicks on a search result vs goes directly to the website or from another referrer.

They're probably using "First Click Free". See http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-cli...

Re: Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Location

#17

Post by chk »

noir_lord wrote: post #13
brianbreslin wrote: post #12

How many warehouses does Amazon operate in the suburbs outside NYC? I bet they can already do same day delivery on lots of products. Will be interesting to see what inventory they put on display here. Or how its innovative? Maybe giant interactive walls where they let you browse tons of their stuff thats upstairs?

We have those (sans giant walls) in the UK. They are called Argos. http://girlinlondon.com/argos-inside-one-of-the-uks-most-pec... for a good description.

I thought of a similar idea one day when day dreaming at my old retail job. What if in the future, all the stores become so small, malls could house 1000s of stores. You could go in, touch the product, try it on, but they were all just display models. And than you'd order it in store, and it would be on your doorstep the next day. No need to keep inventory in the store, and you pay a much smaller rental fee. And shrink could be almost reduced to zero.

Re: Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Location

#18

Post by eddieroger »

vonnik wrote: post #14

Reminds me of the eBay store scene from The 40-year-old Virgin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGxRg5I7r5s The future of e-commerce is bricks and mortar (?!)

That wasn't an eBay store, but her job was selling other people's junk on eBay for them. As for the future of e-commerce, it's whoever can get the product to me fastest. Brick and Mortar still wins that race, but lose on price more often than not.

Re: Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Location

#20

Post by michaelbuckbee »

badmadrad wrote: post #4

http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/09/amazon-store-manhattan/ Seems unnecessary. I guess Amazon is getting so bored making money in sane ways that they want to lose money in insane ways.

In many urban areas it can be challenging to receive packages, so having a pickup spot in the middle of several million people could well make sense.

Apple's flagship Manhattan store famously does quite well as a showcase for their products and helps to sell millions for them. Amazon could be doing that math that for every user we get into the ecosystem we can extract X in lifetime value from book, video and app purchases (again a way it could make sense).

Also, you can consider this maybe Amazon trying to become Walmart faster than Walmart can become Amazon. Having physical stores still counts for much in the retail sector, having one (or a bunch) would potentially give them leverage and more options. They _already_ have a massive nationwide system of warehouses and logistic centers, is it that crazy that they could move products into brick and mortar shops as well as the presumably much more complicated process of people's homes?

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