
Amazon to Shut All U.S. Pop-Up Stores as It Rethinks Physical Retail Strategy - juokaz
https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-to-shut-all-u-s-pop-up-stores-as-it-rethinks-physical-retail-strategy-11551902178
======
kristianc
This is more or less what Amazon is known for - experimentation, A/B testing
and dumping ideas quickly.

I'm pretty in awe that Amazon seems to have (at least) three bricks and mortar
retail concepts on the go at the same time : Go, pop up stores and Whole
Foods, and is only now deciding to cut one of them. Amazon's commitment to
going with the data goes so so deep.

~~~
heymijo
What about Amazon makes it successful with having multiple versions of the
same concept at one time compared to Google's* lack of success doing the same?

*At least my impression of Google and their structure/incentive system that pushes different groups to pursue the same thing and not succeed at any. Messaging is at the forefront in my mind.

~~~
k_sh
Follow-through.

Google is infamous for this sequence of events, time and time again:

1\. We made this great new thing that's gonna change the way you verb! Hope
you enjoy it!

2\. (1-5 years of product stagnation)

3\. Hey, thanks for the all the good times. We're closing the thing at the end
of the year.

Amazon (for all their warts) is much more adept at keeping customer experience
in their crosshairs.

~~~
Judgmentality
> Amazon (for all their warts) is much more adept at keeping customer
> experience in their crosshairs.

Except when it comes to selling counterfeit merchandise. This is more than
just a nitpick, they are cannibalizing their core business. What I don't know,
and I assume they do know, is how bad is the problem. Is it impacting 1% of
customers who ultimately leave their platform (which could easily be offset by
other factors), or are we at the tip of the iceberg and they're going to
continually lose marketshare with time?

~~~
1stcity3rdcoast
There’s been a lot of heated discussion about this on HN previously, but it
would be interesting to know 1) how big of a problem it is, and 2) what people
are buying that seem to have this problem.

My household buys on average 10-20 items from amazon each week for many years
(combined personal, my business, my wife’s business) and have yet to receive a
counterfeit item. Am I doing something different?

~~~
cloakandswagger
The problem seems to exclusively affect HN commenters, who have the remarkable
misfortune of having every single item they buy off Amazon turn out to be
counterfeit. It's a total scourge on the community of HN but miraculously
doesn't seem to affect anyone else.

Occasionally I'll see a broken-English listing from a third-party seller
advertising a $800 camera for $200, but when that happens I just...don't
purchase the obvious counterfeit product.

~~~
nordsieck
> The problem seems to exclusively affect HN commenters, who have the
> remarkable misfortune of having every single item they buy off Amazon turn
> out to be counterfeit. It's a total scourge on the community of HN but
> miraculously doesn't seem to affect anyone else.

I'm sure that much of the anecdata on HN unfairly paints Amazon in an poor
light in regards to counterfeit goods. At the same time, I suspect that many,
many people have bought counterfeit goods on Amazon and don't realize it.

------
bluetidepro
Here is a link to the non paywall version:
[https://outline.com/LXTJCD](https://outline.com/LXTJCD) (the HN "web" link
didn't work for me)

~~~
bezosbaldballs
Not all heroes wear capes, but you probably should

~~~
leowoo91
How do you know he's not a bot? How do I know you're not so.

~~~
merlincorey
Why can't bots wear capes?

I bet a raspberry pi case with a cape would be pretty cool looking.

------
async_dev
Note that they are only shutting down pop-up stores that feature (it sounds
like) all Amazon products like Kindle, etc. NOT their cashierless "Go" stores.
It sounds like they figured out that dedicated physical locations for Amazon
products don't make sense like it does for Apple, etc.

~~~
cbeley
I was scared for a second. I'm really loving the amazon go store (though, it
also happens to be downstairs from where I work).

~~~
Lorenzo45
Same here! Super jealous though because the closest one is a 20 min drive. I
wish I had one closer because they're such a great shopping experience.

------
paxys
Also in the article:

> Amazon is expanding its bookstores as well as its so-called 4-star stores

So this is more of a doubling down rather than failure of brick-and-mortar
retail for Amazon. I'm guessing they want to offer an Apple-like retail
experience versus renting out tiny corners of existing stores like they do
right now.

~~~
w0mbat
I must have done half my Xmas shopping in the local 4 Star store, so I'm glad
they are sticking with that concept. A well curated set of good gifts you can
see IRL is a valuable thing.

~~~
Kye
I've never heard of these stores. They must not be heavily publicized.

~~~
therealx
There are only three; two in the US.

------
MarkMc
This is an example of US economic dynamism. In France or even the UK people
would be saying, "How can we let such a large, profitable company lay off
people so easily?"

~~~
cududa
That’s one of many reasons people don’t start businesses in France or
experiment economically.

~~~
canofbars
Its all fun and games until you are the one who's life is used for some
corporate experiment.

~~~
cududa
I never said I feel no sympathy for them, or that there shouldn’t be a social
safety net. I’m more critiquing France’s approach to business

------
jsight
Ah, so they are shutting these down but adding new 4-star stores and more
Amazon Go stores. I guess the real takeaway is that those stores were
performing better?

It is interesting to see them doing A-B testing at this level. I'm sure it
happens regularly with other retailers, too, though.

~~~
ignoramous
> ... adding new 4-star stores and more Amazon Go stores. . I guess the real
> takeaway is that those stores were performing better?

Not sure why they'd then terminate employment and offer severance to people
working for them in those stores. The key takeaway could be that these pop-up
stores didn't result in tangible benefit to their bottom-line?

------
tareqak
Same story from CNBC: [http://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/06/amazon-to-close-all-of-
its-po...](http://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/06/amazon-to-close-all-of-its-pop-up-
stores-in-the-us.html) .

~~~
ihuman
That article uses OP's as the main source.

> The move was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

~~~
Kye
I think it was offered as an alternative for people who felt weird about
breaking the paywall but don't mind reporting that uses the paywalled article
as a source.

~~~
tha_nose
Or it's just cnbc social media team spamming social media. Anything is
possible in this brave new world.

~~~
tareqak
No, I just posted it for people who want an additional source for the same
story.

------
devoply
I like the moves all of these brick and mortar stores are making online.
Walmart, etc. They are slowly but surely catching up, so much so that I this
Amazon dominating everything is not guaranteed. Walmart and other brick and
mortar stores might develop strategies to effectively compete... which will be
great for consumers to be able to get everything online delivered or store
pickup... with lots of deals offered. That all seems positive. Amazon
dominating to me seems like a negative.

~~~
skywhopper
Walmart in particular seems well-positioned to pivot to competing with Amazon
in retail in the US. They maintain what are essentially warehouse facilities
within a short drive of a huge percentage of the population. Outcompeting
Amazon in terms of a pleasant and trust-building web-shopping experience
_should_ be achievable--Amazon's UX has been getting worse over time, and
achieving truly fast delivery outside of huge urban areas should be more
possible for Walmart than anyone else. That said, I don't think Walmart is
ready to be anywhere near bold enough to transform their assets into a true
Amazon competitor because it would necessarily involve taking big risks and
scaling back on the formula that has gotten them to where they are.

So I'm not hopeful, but I keep thinking someday some new CEO might just make
it happen.

~~~
wincy
I’ve commented on this several times, but Walmart’s online grocery pickup app
is coming along nicely. They’re doing a push to hire developers and the
improvements show in the app.

You originally had to call a phone number but now you say you’re on your way
and it notifies the workers to come out and put your groceries in the trunk.
My wife hates going inside Walmart’s so we’d use the smaller more expensive
grocery stores, but with online pickup she stores her favorite items, adds
them to a cart with a $30 minimum, and picks them up the next morning. It’s
super convenient and we love it. I’d be hard pressed to see how Amazon could
improve upon it, honestly.

~~~
ghaff
I don’t use online ordering for groceries but I find Walmart grocery shopping
generally incredibly hit or miss. A Walmart is the closest grocery store to me
but I’ll basically never go there to do a full grocery shopping because of
generally poor quality meats, wildly inconsistent produce, frequent out of
stocks etc. I’d rather go a few more miles down the road to one of two grocery
chains.

Walmart is fine for most staples but rarely do they have everything I’m
looking for at acceptable quality. And, yes, I dislike going in the store.

------
sct202
I used one of the pop-ups to trade in my old broken Kindle, and it was a
relatively pleasant experience. I think really the most negative part about
the whole process was that the city I live in had AMZN pop-ups and book-
stores, but only a few select locations would do a trade in.

------
temp1928384
I wonder if Amazon will get into the wholesale game i.e. massive warehouse
stores to compete with Costco and Sam's Club that you can get into with a
(super) prime membership?

~~~
fullshark
Then you lose Amazon's main value prop: Limitless selection

------
Ichorbmmlc77
It seemed like an experiment in the first place. They have the possibilities
to dump money for these kinds of market tests.

------
smn1234
perhaps I'm misinterpreting the article, it's mis-titled, or both but Amazon
seems to be removing the shoping experience of the kiosks within select malls,
Whole Foods, etc. for things like Kindles and Alexa devices. I'm assuming the
"physical retail strategy" seems limited to these kiosks, only?

------
gumby
TL;DR: Amazon has been experimenting with a bunch of IRL retail approaches.
Some don't work as well and are being shut down; others are expanding.

And undoubtably further experimentation will ensue.

------
true_tuna
Stop posting wsj articles. They’re just advertising for the wsj walled garden.

~~~
dang
If there's a workaround, it's ok. Users usually post workarounds in the
thread.

This is in the FAQ at
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html)
and there's more explanation here:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989)

[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20paywall&sort=byDate&...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20paywall&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix&page=0)

