With Amazon opening its 4th book store one has to wonder why is it going against the wave it helped create and that brick & mortar retailers are frantically trying to catch-up of closing their stores and shifting their business on-line. Could it be now that Amazon has wrought almost absolute destruction on brick & mortars it is looking to fill specific voids. Or, if history is any indicator, then perhaps the stores are more of a Trojan Horse. Like its initial foray as an on-line bookstore Amazon has since expanded its product portfolio to include a vast array of items from cloud computing, publishing, mobile devices, content creation and oh yes..selling a wide variety of products on its web-site (not just books) could Amazon actually be looking at these stores as a springboard to launch other businesses (think fee-based wi-fi access, built-in cell towers to create a mobile carrier network, small-biz local cloud storage solutions..etc). Or it could be just one tremendous head-fake. Either way Amazon certainly will be in the heads of rival executives leaving them guessing as to..what..is..next.
http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2017/03/01/inside-amazons-first-brick-and-mortar-bookstore-in.html?ana=e_me_set1&s=newsletter&ed=2017-03-01&u=sAmE2YeVGI6C34B70ph%2FuJp4Bee&t=1488384350&j=77519081
Back in the day Amazon used to sell books but it also had a strategic approach to broaden it's portfolio. That was to establish a seemingly non-hostile relationship with brick & mortar retailers like Toys 'R Us (see bankruptcy), Borders Books..etc. The goal? To get in front of the customer interaction. Amazon sold itself as an expert in the digital space and allowed for cost efficiencies (i.e: not having to build out a web-site or deal with the head-ache of how to fulfill product or the logistics on from where) from the brick and mortar company to focus on what it did best (selling in a physical store) while letting Amazon manage it's digital footprint which was a low volume mix relative to the traffic that was walking into the brick & mortar stores on a daily basis. But, as we all know now, by insinuating itself in the path to purchase and putting its brand in-between the customer and the brick & mortar brand Amazon was able to create a wedge that has grown
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