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Amazon to Shut All U.S. Pop-Up Stores as It Rethinks Physical Retail Strategy
- bluetidepro 8y agoHere 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 8y agoNot all heroes wear capes, but you probably should
- leowoo91 8y agoHow do you know he's not a bot? How do I know you're not so.
- merlincorey 8y agoWhy can't bots wear capes? I bet a raspberry pi case with a cape would be pretty cool looking.
- jsight 8y agoAh, 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.
- acomjean 8y agoThey did buy a large retail food operation (Whole foods) which now has amazon lockers and sells all matter of kindles etc.
- ignoramous 8y ago> ... 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?
- devoply 8y agoI 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.
- droithomme 8y agoVery good points. I concur. WalMart's website is very poorly designed compared to amazon, but they generally have the same goods at the same price. WalMart will offer free ship-to-store that I can get faster than waiting for amazon free shipping, and critically, WalMart allows no-hassle returns of internet purchases at the local return counter. Amazon's return policy is good, but it's more of a hassle to deal with boxing, labeling, and shipping than just dropping off. And of course while I'm at a WalMart I'll grab other things as well, which doesn't happen at the UPS counter. So I assume others have had the same experience and that WalMart share of the online market will continue to grow, particularly if they can move their website to the same experience that amazon provides (a steep task). Their logistics and warehousing backend appears to be at least as good as Amazon's, possibly better, though that's an inference from just observing the customer end of it and not based on inside knowledge.
- WillPostForFood 8y agoAmazon offers drop off returns at their retail locations as well. Also at their lockers, but you do have to box it for the locker.
- ihuman 8y agoIs re-boxing Amazon products really that big of a hassle? I just re-use the box the product came in, or the box from another recent Amazon purchase.
- async_dev 8y agoNote 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.
- anth_anm 8y agoMakes more sense to have them in go stores, whole foods, etc... I bought my parents an echo because they had them on sale at whole foods around christmas.
- cbeley 8y agoI 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 8y agoSame 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.
- chrischen 8y agoAs a dedicated Apple user, the Apple stores are invaluable for fixing hardware issues or diagnosing them.
- benbristow 8y agoAmazon devices aren't premium. In fact, they're more the opposite. People are less excited to come and play with them because they're (for many people) easily affordable unlike Apple products where a try before you part with a lot of money is a bigger 'thing'.
- tareqak 8y agoSame story from CNBC: http://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/06/amazon-to-close-all-of-its-pop-up-stores-in-the-us.html http://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/06/amazon-to-close-all-of-its-po... .
- ihuman 8y agoThat article uses OP's as the main source. > The move was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
- Kye 8y agoI 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.
- fru2013 8y agoI realize it's a controversial topic, but I would welcome a bot that posts outline links to paywalled content. Usually someone posts a link anyway so it would not make much a difference.
- tareqak 8y agoThat wasn't quite my intention initially, but I realized that it was an additional benefit. My initial intention was more to add an extra source, which sometimes has the additional benefit of having a marginally different perspective.
- tha_nose 8y agoOr it's just cnbc social media team spamming social media. Anything is possible in this brave new world.
- tareqak 8y agoNo, I just posted it for people who want an additional source for the same story.
- sct202 8y agoI 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.
- smn1234 8y agoperhaps 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?
- paxys 8y agoAlso 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 8y agoI 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.
- Gpetrium 8y agoI think that since most lower priced groceries are not located in premium retail spots, they can partially use the business as a warehouse, cutting down on cost while allowing them to be more competitive. The purchase of Whole Foods seems to have benefited Amazon's grocery logistics, added pressure to competitors wanting to enter the online retail from brick-n-mortar sector, allows them to use the b-n-m to serve as warehouse and increases brand recognition
- gumby 8y agoTL;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.
- kristianc 8y agoThis 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.
- SteveCoast 8y agoI think it's 5: Go, pop-up, 4-star, bookstore, whole foods.
- turtlebits 8y agoAlso the 365 grocery stores.
- plumeria 8y agoThose have been discontinued.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- stephenhuey 8y agoI was about to correct you since one opened near my house, but it sounds like all 9 of the 365 stores will be converted to a regular Whole Foods by the end of the year: https://www.eater.com/2019/2/27/18243123/whole-foods-365-stores-rip https://www.eater.com/2019/2/27/18243123/whole-foods-365-sto...
- erichurkman 8y agoI do hope 4-star works out. It's worked great for me a few times for last minute decent gifts (including for a kid and difficult to buy for relative).
- heymijo 8y ago
- MarkMc 8y agoThis 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?"
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- dmix 8y agoYou understand that "pop-ups" by their very nature are temporary?
- busterarm 8y agoThat's why those businesses never start up in France in the first place.
- cududa 8y agoThat’s one of many reasons people don’t start businesses in France or experiment economically.
- vore 8y agoYou can't extol the virtues without considering the social cost in the US: "How can we make sure labor laws and social welfare systems don't become as tragic as those in the US?"
- aikah 8y ago
- temp1928384 8y agoI 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 8y agoThen you lose Amazon's main value prop: Limitless selection
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- true_tuna 8y agoStop posting wsj articles. They’re just advertising for the wsj walled garden.
- swarnie_ 8y agoSorry but this is increasingly the state of journalism. You either do a good job and need to be payed somehow or you churn out absolute trash and hope enough clickbait will keep you afloat.
- dang 8y agoIf 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/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=by:dang%20paywall https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...
- Ichorbmmlc77 8y agoIt seemed like an experiment in the first place. They have the possibilities to dump money for these kinds of market tests.