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Amazon opening bookstores isn't as newsworthy as many may think

Amazon opening bookstores grabs lots of attention but it's really just another smart strategy. After all Amazon is a book seller already.

Courtesy of Amazon

February 9, 2016 by Judy Mottl — Editor, RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com

If there is one thing that’s sure regarding the rumors about Amazon opening 300 to 400 brick-and-mortar locations, it’s this: General Growth Properties CEO Sandeep Mathrani is likely not on Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Christmas card list.

For those who may have missed the brouhaha, Mathrani, during his own company’s earnings call on Feb. 2, was talking about omnichannel strategy and noted Amazon is looking to open 300 to 400 bookstores. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report his words and the story was picked up fast and furious in the business press.

Then five days later, Mathrani, who likely got his first call from Bezos five minutes after the Journal report appeared, backtracked a bit on his statement, clarifying that his comments were not intended to represent the ecommerce giant’s plans.

Now maybe, if Amazon hadn’t already opened its first brick-and-mortar brook store in Seattle the news would have been more interesting. But it opened its first physical store in November 2015 and at the time Amazon VP Jennifer Cast, VP of Amazon Books, was quoted by the Seattle Times as stating: "We’re completely focused on this bookstore," Cast said. "We hope this is not our only one. But we’ll see."

The fact Amazon sees value in physical book stores isn’t any surprise. After all it’s why the online bookseller decimated the brick-and-mortar bookstore industry nearly two decades ago (though to be fair, several big booksellers didn’t seem to take Amazon as seriously as they should have and weren’t nimble enough to figure out a survival strategy).

So now that Amazon owns the online book industry, why shouldn’t it want to take a few moves to be the big brick-and-mortar player in some markets where success sits waiting  — Seattle for its high-literacy and educated population is a no brainer. Obviously there are at least a few hundred more such ‘hot spots’ to drop in an Amazon store across the country.

While Amazon’s Cast states the store is primarily a bookstore, it’s obviously a great place to market the various Amazon devices, and consumers love to fiddle with devices before they buy.

One such device is the Echo, which starred in a Super Bowl ad this past weekend. Amazon clearly is striving to find Echo a place in every home but many consumers need to see Echo in action before they ‘get it’ and understand Alexa’s value proposition.

I’m still a bit baffled why the rumors about hundreds of store locations is earth shattering to deserve so many headlines over a week. Anyone who has followed Bezos and Amazon knows two things: the etailer can and is often a bit quiet and shy about its moves at times, but it’s typically very transparent and open on where it’s heading and how it plans to get there.

About Judy Mottl

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Judy Mottl is editor of Retail Customer Experience and Digital Signage Today. She has decades of experience as a reporter, writer and editor covering technology and business for top media including AOL, InformationWeek, InternetNews and Food Truck Operator.

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