Amazon is scaling back its physical retail footprint in a big way

[Shawn Knight]

The big picture: Amazon hasn’t shied away from experimenting with brick-and-mortar concepts in recent years, which is a bit ironic considering the Internet shopping pioneer’s role in disrupting traditional retail in its formative years. Its 4-star stores, for example, only sell items that have a four-star or higher rating, are top sellers or are new and trending on Amazon.com.

The e-commerce giant confirmed to CNBC that it will be shutting down all of its Amazon Books physical stores in the US and UK, along with its Amazon 4-star and remaining Amazon Pop-Up stores. Closure dates will vary by location, the company said. All told, nearly 70 stores will be going away.

An Amazon spokesperson said they will help impacted employees find roles elsewhere in the company. Those who decide to move on will be given severance.

Growth at Amazon has slowed as of late, however, which is reflected in the company's share value. Year to date, the stock is down nearly 11 percent.

One of its bigger acquisitions, Whole Foods, is still going strong. Amazon earlier this week opened its first Whole Foods store with Just Walk Out technology, allowing shoppers to grab what they need and skip the checkout line thanks to the combined magic of computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning.

The company is also planning to launch an apparel store called Amazon Style in Glendale, California later this year featuring clothing and high-tech changing rooms.

Image credit Tim Mossholder

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https://www.techspot.com/news/93625-amazon-scaling-back-physical-retail-footprint-big-way.html

 

[passwordistaco]

WTF is a "high-tech changing room"? How many Ring cameras does it have?

 

[VaRmeNsI]

Economic crash on the way so it's a smart move.

 

[madboyv1]

I wonder if that is why the amazon store that was supposed to open near my office basically just... stopped renovating the retail space? Like they went hardcore gutting the inside and put up new exterior accents to the top half of the building, but then... just never finished putting up the signage and it has been at least a month since I've seen anyone actually on location as I come in or leave my office building...

 

[mctommy]

Doesn't surprise me that Whole Foods (Whole Paychecks) are still doing strong.

No mention of Amazon Fresh so they must be doing good too.

I never bought a single item from Amazon retail stores or 4-star stores, prices seem higher than online... oh the irony.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

WTF is a "high-tech changing room"? How many Ring cameras does it have?

This is what the CNBC article says:

Customers will rely heavily on their smartphone while they shop the store, using it to view additional colors and sizes, as well as notify store employees to put an item in their fitting room.

[...]

After scanning the QR code on an item, shoppers can click a button in the Amazon app to add the item to a fitting room or send it to a pickup counter.

In the fitting rooms, Amazon has added touch-screen displays, which shoppers can use to rate items or request different styles or sizes to be delivered to their fitting room.

Each item is then dropped off in a "secure closet" in the fitting room, which unlocks after a store associate delivers the clothing. This allows customers to continue shopping without having to leave the fitting room and find an employee, the company said.

Just stupid in my opinion. Unless it's a factory outlet or a shoe store, I don't see the point of a "high tech" way to ask employees to bring you clothes that people enjoy browsing in-person.

 

[NumberSix]

Bloody internet forcing real shops to close, I blame Amazon!