Amazon bets big on bricks-and-mortar

This week, Amazon opened its first drive-through grocery store and its seventh bookstore. On the surface, the New York bookstore looks almost identical to the kind of outlets that were forced out of business by the online marketplace. But on closer inspection it becomes clear that the stock and store layout are dictated by consumers’ online shopping habits.

Titles are arranged based on the same ‘customers who bought this item also bought’ concept that features on the brand’s digital marketplace, and each book is supplemented with a review taken directly from the Amazon website. The choice of titles in the store is influenced by Amazon customers’ shopping and reading habits, for example, the Page Turners section features books that the majority of Amazon Kindle users finish reading within three days.

While the physical store serves as an extension of the brand’s digital platform, its foray into bricks-and-mortar shopping suggests that it recognises the value of tactility in certain areas of the retail industry.