Amazon Plans Hundreds of Brick-and-Mortar Bookstores, Mall CEO Says--2nd update
2016年2月3日 - 09:10AM
Dow Jones News
By Greg Bensinger
After dipping its toes into brick-and-mortar retailing last year
with its first physical bookstore, online giant Amazon.com Inc. is
poised to dive into the deep end.
The Seattle company plans to open as many as 400 bookstores,
Sandeep Mathrani, chief executive of mall operator General Growth
Properties Inc., said on an earnings call on Tuesday.
"You've got Amazon opening brick-and-mortar bookstores and their
goal is to open, as I understand, 300 to 400," said Mr. Mathrani in
response to a question about mall traffic.
That plan compares to the 640 stores Barnes & Noble Inc.
operates and the 255 locations Books-A-Million Inc. said it had as
of last summer. Both companies spent years building their retail
presence. In addition to its one bookstore, Amazon also has a
presence in Westfield Corp. malls, where it has set up permanent
kiosks selling devices, cases and branded apparel.
It wasn't clear where Mr. Mathrani got Amazon's store figure,
but he could have spoken with Amazon's real-estate executives about
their plans. A spokesmen for Amazon and GGP declined to
comment.
If Amazon were to open hundreds of stores, it would take years
to pick locations, reach leasing deals, and hire staff. Physical
stores would give Amazon customers a place to leaf through books
before buying them.
Barnes & Noble shares slid 2.3% to $7.90 and Amazon fell a
fraction to $551, both in after-hours trading.
Amazon opened a physical bookstore in Seattle in November, its
first foray into brick-and-mortar retail. The store, in an outdoor
mall, sells books and Amazon's Kindle and Fire devices. Amazon says
it stocks the location using data it collects from its website. The
store stocks about 5,000 titles at any one time, compared with
millions on its namesake website.
The Seattle bookstore carries the same prices as Amazon's online
store, generally are at a discount to other retailers. It showcases
customers' online book reviews for some titles and, like many
independent stores, has curated sections featuring selections from
employees, including Chief Executive Jeff Bezos.
While Amazon can overwhelm competitors with its vast online
inventory, it still cannot rival the immediacy of shopping at the
mall. Not that it isn't trying: Amazon has begun one-hour
deliveries in about 20 cities and same-day drop-offs in other
markets. At a handful of U.S. colleges, Amazon has physical
locations for students can pick up or drop off merchandise and
speak to Amazon representatives.
In addition to the Seattle bookstore, Amazon footwear division
Zappos and diaper seller Quidsi have experimented with U.S. retail
outlets.
Mr. Mathrani noted that other online retailers, like fashion
site Bonobos and eyeglasses seller Warby Parker, are opening
physical stores. Online makeup subscription service Birchbox "is
cutting their overhead to open bricks-and-mortar stores," he
said.
Such stores also can serve as mini warehouses for home delivery
in urban centers, a concept Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and
others have explored. Warby Parker has said its physical stores are
profitable in their own right.
Amazon's Seattle bookstore has no apparent delivery component,
though people familiar with its operations have said the retailer
is using it to experiment with stocking shelves quickly using
nearby warehouses and doing other types of data collection.
GGP's Mr. Mathrani suggested another possible motivation for
Amazon to open a chain of physical stores: returns. The CEO of the
Chicago-based company said 38% of online purchases for what are
known as soft goods, such as clothing and paper products, are
returned to brick-and-mortar locations.
Write to Greg Bensinger at greg.bensinger@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 02, 2016 18:55 ET (23:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)
過去 株価チャート
から 2 2024 まで 3 2024
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)
過去 株価チャート
から 3 2023 まで 3 2024