Amazon to the rescue of physical stores?
While shopping centers and brands have suffered from the pandemic and the boom in online sales in the United States, the e-commerce giant is preparing to open department stores there, according to the
Wall Street Journal
.
The first two are due to open in Ohio and California, says the American newspaper.
Amazon would offer non-food products such as clothing, electronics or furniture.
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The format chosen by Amazon is smaller than the average mall in the United States.
According to the
Wall Street Journal
, it is more akin to the new formats deployed by Bloomingdale's or Nordstrom, ie around 9,000 m2.
Expanding its physical footprint allows Amazon to further increase its dominance in US commerce.
According to Wells Fargo & Company, quoted by the
Wall Street Journal
, it is already the number one clothing seller in the United States.
Testing different formats
This is far from Amazon's first foray into physical distribution.
For several years now, he has been testing different store formats where he offers his own products.
It is rolling out its Amazon Go automated convenience stores, and in 2017 bought the organic supermarket chain Whole Foods Market.
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In the non-food sector, he opened Amazon Books bookstores, where he showcases customers' favorite products on the internet.
But Amazon's performance in physical commerce has yet to match its online performance.
Sales there, for example, fell by 15% in the first quarter and 7% in the previous quarter.