5 Retail Store Ideas from Amazon’s Brick and Mortar Moves
Amazon is growing offline as well as on; five retail store ideas might indicate how the Everything Store could become the Everywhere Store, too.
Retail Store Ideas – 5 Things You Can Learn from The Everything Store
We’ve published several articles about Amazon’s growing transportation fleet; however, this wildly successful eCommerce retail store is dabbling in brick and mortar, too. But why? Having achieved online e-tail success – so much so that last quarter they sold more than the next six top retailers combined – why would Amazon move into brick and mortar spaces?
One New York Times article suggests this: “Amazon, officially, won’t tell you much about the motivations for doing bricks-and-mortar. But… they have a lot of ideas about how physical retailing can be improved, ideas that come from their data-centric approach to online retailing.” Here are five retail store ideas you can take away from Amazon’s data-educated approach.
Location, Location + Omni-Location
Instead of fighting the consumer’s ability to showroom (browse in-store then buy online), Amazon embraces omni-channel. One of the first things pointed out in the New York Times article cited above, a reporter-to-reporter dialogue providing a virtual tour of Amazon’s Seattle brick and mortar bookstore, is that the Wi-Fi runs at 114 Mbps, “easily the fastest I’ve ever gotten…” Amazon understands that people will browse in-store and buy online for many reasons:
- Convenience – shipping straight to home means no packages to transport
- Selection – the in-store options could be low on stock or not exactly right
- Gifting – shoppers aren’t always browsing for themselves or might find the perfect “something” to send to a friend or family member, and take advantage of free shipping to save time and money
- If this, then that – Amazon’s brick and mortar stores have only so much space; however, beacons, push notifications, in-store digital signs and staff can offer a limitless number of “if you liked this, you might also like” recommendations – a strategy which can then be followed up in email marketing, thanks to data, data, and more data
Sometimes You Have to Float – Sink or Swim
Opening the Seattle flagship store might have been based on a lot of data, but it was still a test. Would people come? Would they buy? How would it affect online sales? Will initial curiosity die out or turn into long term patronage?
It’s known that there will be at least four Amazon brick and mortar bookstores, with three more locations planned to open in San Diego, California, Tigard, Oregon and Chicago, Illinois. There have also been unconfirmed rumors that when all it’s said and done Amazon may open as many as 400 bookstore locations. Whatever the final number of stores turns out to be, and however-much data exists to show that the brick and mortar stores are a good risk, it’s important to remember that there’s no such thing as a sure thing. Ultimately, to grow, you’ve got to be willing to test new ideas, new concepts, new business models and innovate.
When in Doubt, Pop-Up
Amazon may well opt to limit the number of its full-fledged, permanent physical locations, but the eCommerce giant’s move into brick and mortar also includes temporary pop-up stores, such as the one that recently made its debut in a Scottsdale, Arizona mall. Pointing out that Amazon has offline ambitions, the Amazon pop-up store may foreshadow, “Amazon’s commitment to blending the digital and physical worlds.”
Opening a new location is an expensive way to test the market and float ideas; however, opening up temporary kiosks and pop-up stores can be done at a fraction of the cost and risk. If there’s a way to test-market your retail store ideas in other locations with shared space or pop-up stores, it could be a great way to determine whether the time is right to expand your business, and where.
The Special Thing vs. Everything
Compared to the millions (or billions?) of products that can be purchased from Amazon.com, its bookstores and pop-up stores offer just the smallest fraction of goods. So why just books? It’s smart.
Amazon specifically (and eCommerce in general) is credited with taking sales from the now defunct brick and mortar bookstore chain Borders, smaller chains and independent bookstores, and for forcing Barnes and Noble to contract operations, shrinking its size from a high of 798 stores in 2008 to 640 today. With all of those bookstores out of the marketplace, there’s room. If Amazon tried to open some other type of retail store, say in furnishings, appliances, groceries, apparel, shoes, etc., there would be far more marketplace competition.
Regardless of their role in shrinking the size of the physical bookstore market, they identified an unmet or under-met need, and they are filling it. In terms of retail store ideas, it’s a reminder that your store needs to have a special thing, a real reason that it deserves to exist in the marketplace based on supply and demand, mission, vision or some other unique selling proposition.
Virtual Becomes Visible Manifestation
Amazon’s special thing – these brick and mortar bookstores – aren’t merely filling market place need, either. They’re also providing a point of contact, and introduction, to consumers who maybe haven’t ventured onto the everything store that is Amazon.com. By putting their brand into physical locations, they are meeting buyers who might be otherwise un-inaugurated and giving fans of their brand a “temple” in which they can visit and interact with the brand in a tangible way.
Brands that master the art of making personal connections are memorable in a way that the others aren’t. Personalizing your brand so that fans of your brand can interact with it – creating emotional touchpoints and positive perceptions – and to attract people who haven’t “met” your business yet is the basis of strong branding.
