
Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Location - nonsequ
http://online.wsj.com/articles/amazon-to-open-first-store-1412879124?mod=WSJ_hp_RightTopStories&cb=logged0.7617116265464574
======
badmadrad
[http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/09/amazon-store-
manhattan/](http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/09/amazon-store-manhattan/)

Seems unnecessary. I guess Amazon is getting so bored making money in sane
ways that they want to lose money in insane ways.

~~~
michaelbuckbee
In many urban areas it can be challenging to receive packages, so having a
pickup spot in the middle of several million people could well make sense.

Apple's flagship Manhattan store famously does quite well as a showcase for
their products and helps to sell millions for them. Amazon could be doing that
math that for every user we get into the ecosystem we can extract X in
lifetime value from book, video and app purchases (again a way it could make
sense).

Also, you can consider this maybe Amazon trying to become Walmart faster than
Walmart can become Amazon. Having physical stores still counts for much in the
retail sector, having one (or a bunch) would potentially give them leverage
and more options. They _already_ have a massive nationwide system of
warehouses and logistic centers, is it that crazy that they could move
products into brick and mortar shops as well as the presumably much more
complicated process of people's homes?

~~~
minimax
I don't know as much about NYC geography, but if they put one of these
somewhere in the loop in Chicago I would definitely use it. I would much
rather spend my lunch break walking down to the Amazon pickup depot than let a
package sit on my front door all day.

~~~
timjahn
Doesn't having to pick up a package defeat the purpose of delivery?

If I wanted to pick up packages, I'd go to stores and buy things. I don't want
to go to the store though, so I pay Amazon to deliver it to me.

~~~
praxeologist
Many of the things I buy on Amazon I buy because I can't find them at all in
local stores. Sometimes they are just cheaper too, but that really is why I
would use a local Amazon store. I wonder if this will also make some things
like pet food which aren't really suited to ecommerce more viable for them.
Maybe they wouldn't offer vastly cheaper shipping if you want any brand but
would stock some staples like that too.

------
cordovas
Since we all don't have a wsj account...

[http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-to-open-first-
physic...](http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-to-open-first-physical-
store-in-manhattan-2014-10-09)

~~~
SEJeff
And if you do, simply take the title, and dump it into Google. The wsj has a
stupid rule where they won't require you to have an account to read the full
article if your referrer is google.

I created a small greasemonkey script to set the referrer on all wsj websites
to google. Works like a champ!

~~~
PawelDecowski
Isn’t that against Google’s T&Cs? I’m sure a website is not allowed to present
different content to GoogleBot than it does to regular users. Not sure if
there’s a rule that says it can’t present different content when a user clicks
on a search result vs goes directly to the website or from another referrer.

~~~
mfonda
They're probably using "First Click Free". See
[http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-
cli...](http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-click-free-
for-web-search.html)

~~~
PawelDecowski
Thanks for this. Good to know about it.

------
jonknee
I assume this will be more of a Kindle showroom with a bunch of Amazon lockers
for product pickup. They're always trying to reduce shipping costs and having
people pick stuff up is a good way to keep the shippers on their toes.

------
admbk
This is probably to help feed the media buzz when they release a new Kindle or
such.

TV loves these " people in Manhattan queued all night in front of the store in
anticipation of iThingy 15.7 "

~~~
DannyBee
Yes, which are almost as useless as the "sold x million first weekend" metrics
that get parrotted by media.

If the user base increased by 50% between the two releases, they can convince
50% less people to upgrade the first weekend, and still sell more the first
weekend than they did last time. The sold x million certainly tells you some
hard dollar number that is uninteresting, but it gives you no idea how popular
the device will actually be, even though it _sounds_ like it should.

------
wiredfool
So, like Argos, but with the internet and stuff. And presumably with better
fixtures.

------
Ryel
Amazon has nothing to lose from this store.

\- They will ride the media wave when a product launches/when they do a stunt
like drone delivery and have people waiting outside.

\- You can bet they will be testing in-house tracking/advertising by analyzing
their customers' actions under their own conditions

\- You can bet they will sell at least a small number of their flagship
products

Kind of surprising that they didnt already have a brick-and-mortar location.

------
lovemenot
UX: Relentless body and eye tracking from the moment you walk in. Physical
identity linked to your Amazon account. No opt-out. No cash payment. Tight
integration to online experience. Customer is seated beside a large touch
screen, product arrives kaiten sushi style. Some visibility of robotic pickers
behind the scenes. Reservation of seating days in advance.

~~~
jessaustin
Shut up and take my money! Can you install one of these things on my toilet?

------
ctdonath
I'm sure someone can find a niche for it. Stock "deal of the day" items, top
sellers, small items (not worth cost of shipping but buyers willing to drive
to get), and ship-to-store (lowered shipping, don't worry about shipper
leaving it on porch to get stolen). Also provides a live face for service.

------
brianbreslin
How many warehouses does Amazon operate in the suburbs outside NYC? I bet they
can already do same day delivery on lots of products. Will be interesting to
see what inventory they put on display here. Or how its innovative? Maybe
giant interactive walls where they let you browse tons of their stuff thats
upstairs?

~~~
noir_lord
We have those (sans giant walls) in the UK.

They are called Argos.

[http://girlinlondon.com/argos-inside-one-of-the-uks-most-
pec...](http://girlinlondon.com/argos-inside-one-of-the-uks-most-peculiar-
stores/) for a good description.

~~~
chk
I thought of a similar idea one day when day dreaming at my old retail job.
What if in the future, all the stores become so small, malls could house 1000s
of stores. You could go in, touch the product, try it on, but they were all
just display models. And than you'd order it in store, and it would be on your
doorstep the next day. No need to keep inventory in the store, and you pay a
much smaller rental fee. And shrink could be almost reduced to zero.

~~~
noir_lord
Here in the UK that's how many shops (and some chains that are still extant)
_started_ out.

You went into the local grocers which had a counter/hatch (think post
office/bank), You told him what you wanted (or he your weekly order) and he
(or usually his boy) would then drop the merchandise off at your house.

The Supermarkets pretty much paid to your corner grocer (economies of scale,
later opening hours, more variety of items, the ability to do your shop
yourself as and when needed and the increasing wealth of the UK (cars and
refrigerators)).

It would be amusing if we went back to a high tech version of that.

------
dyeje
Seems cool. Picking up from a store can be useful when it's something you're
worried about sitting on your doorstep all day. Could be a great way to
improve customer service as well. I'm curious as to whether the store will
actually stock non-amazon products.

~~~
wutbrodo
> Picking up from a store can be useful when it's something you're worried
> about sitting on your doorstep all day.

This is almost certainly not the main intention of this move, since a store is
waayyyy more expensive than a locker and no more convenient, and Amazon has
had lockers for a looong time (I can't receive packages at my house so I use
the locker one block away extensively).

------
nchlswu
I'd be curious what proportion of public facing space would be lockers.

I imagine it'd be great to showcase flash sales and extremely high demand
items. I really believe a retailer selling physical goods needs some sort of
physical presence and hope this is something interesting.

~~~
dwild
They could easily sell displaying space too for a monthly cost.

------
chris_mahan
They ship by drone from the warehouse to the store in 30 minutes. You order
something, 30 minutes later, after you drink an expensive latte and use their
free wifi to watch some TV show from their network, you get your hard-to-find
item, and you go home happy.

------
DanielBMarkham
Wonder how long it will be until we start seeing subdivisions built around
Distribution Centers, with robots delivering the goods almost immediately
after ordering. 20 years?

~~~
SapphireSun
With robot cars doing most of the work? Maybe 10 years, though it's hardly
necessary that the subdivision gets build around the DC when you can build a
DC close enough to the subdivision to make it worth your while.

------
Havoc
Why? Their entire competitive advantage & business approach is based on the
opposite?

~~~
DannyBee
Because they need a way to let people play with things like fire hd, and can't
rely on best buy to have their best interests at heart?

~~~
Havoc
People buy stuff off Amazon without playing with it first all the time? I did
& I'm not even in the US (Kindle).

I can see a Manhattan store working as a novelty type deal but beyond that
Amazon is online in my books.

------
thavalai
Time to buy BestBuy stock. They just became an acquisition target for Amazon.

------
wildwood
I could see Amazon using this as a NYC media presence, as much as a store.
They could do readings by authors, launch events for Amazon original video
content, Kindle product launches, and so on.

Also, six foot HDMI cables. Everybody needs those.

------
vonnik
Reminds me of the eBay store scene from The 40-year-old Virgin:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGxRg5I7r5s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGxRg5I7r5s)

The future of e-commerce is bricks and mortar (?!)

~~~
eddieroger
That wasn't an eBay store, but her job was selling other people's junk on eBay
for them. As for the future of e-commerce, it's whoever can get the product to
me fastest. Brick and Mortar still wins that race, but lose on price more
often than not.

~~~
vonnik
There are a lot of products that bricks and mortar lose on, simply because
they can't carry the diversity of inventory that ecommerce shops can access.

~~~
eddieroger
Agreed. It's on the b&m stores to keep a product mix that will sell the most
efficiently, and the ones who are surviving are the ones figuring that out.
I'm lucky enough (or unlucky, depending on perspective) to live in a city with
a Fry's - there aren't a lot of products NewEgg can win on if I'm feeling
impatient, for example.

------
rbinv
Paywalled.

~~~
SEJeff
See my comment above. Dump the title into google, click through and you're
good. wsj won't paywall you if your referrer is google.

~~~
Buge
It still paywalls me from google.

