The company is shifting its retail strategy.
After years of expansion, Amazon is reconsidering its retail goals. According to Reuters, the firm is closing all 68 of its physical bookshops, pop-up locations, and 4-star shops in the United States and the United Kingdom. In a statement to the New York Times, the firm stated that in-person shopping was still crucial, and that it will concentrate on its cashierless Just Walk Out technology, grocery stores, and its recently announced Los Angeles clothes store.
The dates of the store’s closure will vary. Workers at affected sites may be able to find work in adjacent Amazon stores, according to the company.
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The company opened its first physical bookstore in November 2015, and its first 4-star outlet in September 2018. Both represented experiments in combining Amazon’s online shopping data with the retail world — the in-store selection reflected what was popular or likely to sell. It’s not certain how well they fared in practice, but it’s safe to say they weren’t as disruptive as Amazon’s internet-based book sales.
Not that Amazon is worried. The company is still opening more cashier-free Go stores, and third parties like Starbucks and Sainsbury’s are testing Just Walk Out. It also has plenty of Whole Foods locations, and in 2020 opened its first Amazon Fresh grocery store. This is more of a shift in strategy than a retreat, even if it suggests some of Amazon’s initiatives are more successful than others.
