Amazon Opens The First Physical Bookstore. A Revolution In E-commerce?

20 years ago Jeff Bezos started to make rules of e-commerce, discovering new strategies of selling online. Today, when the future of brick and mortar stores seems insecure, Amazon opens its first physical bookshop in Seattle. Why? Enquiring minds want to know.

Create Amazing Shopping Experience. Download Free Ebook

Death sentence for physical stores?

E-commerce will kill brick and mortar stores. Users prefer buying online, because it’s more convenient and easier, and allows for research before purchase. Although many predict the brick and mortar apocalypse, it’s hard to overlook the growing market of tools addressing online-offline gap to make physical stores more interactive, connected and social. Amazon opening the physical store is another symptom of upcoming revolution in how we sell. Physical stores aren’t dead; they’re evolving.

The first physical Amazon’s store

At November 3th, Amazon Books was opened. The bookstore is located in Seattle and offers 6,000 books at the same prize as online.

The store is to bridge an online-offline gap. Books are carefully curated, always facing out, each accompanied by a review from Amazon’s e-store and user’s rating. The bookstore is run according to Big Data analysis (books’ rating, sales, viewability, etc.)

Ebooks defeated

The book market experts discuss the other problem. Bezos created an e-book empire. Is he retreating now? Does his physical store with physical books (although you can buy a Kindle there, too) means that ebooks were just a fad? In the first quarter of 2015, ebook sales dropped by 7.5% when compared to last year (LA Times).
Richard Mollet from Publishers Association interprets Bezos’ move as recognizing the power of traditional book over electronic files (The Guardian). Amazon, accused of ruining small local bookstores and hurting the book market, seems to tergiversate and engage in the project that embodies everything it used to fight against.

How Amazon Books Can Change E-commerce?

Amazon Books will for sure present new opportunities for e-commerce and inspire many retailers. Why?
• Amazon Books is an offline store based on 20 years of e-commerce experience,
• It will show how to address online-offline gap and ROPO
• Maybe the physical store will become a marketing channel, not a sales one. Its role will be to drive traffic to e-store and engage customers who haven’t considered buying books online before. Don Reisinger z Fortune says that physical store will just reinforce brand’s core online sales
• The bookstore might also serve as pick-up point for ordered books,
• Sales in physical store might turn out to be so impressive that the Seattle giant will invest more in that channel
• The policy of offering the same prices online and offline will become more common
• For sure, Amazon will surprise us with the innovative online – offline solutions, maybe a mobile app or beacons.

Bezos is known for his love for testing new solutions and engaging even in hopeless projects, like Alexandria, which was supposed to gather all the books ever produced. Will his brick and mortar bookstore share its fate or will it move commerce to the new level?

The data noise can keep you in the dark – that’s why Spotlight shines the light on the hidden visitors and helps convert them into loyal Customers. Understand your anonymous shoppers and tailor personalized website campaigns based on their behavior. With approximately 85% of website visitors remaining anonymous, it’s crucial to understand […]

Picture an iceberg. But not the looming danger kind. This is an IceCREAMberg. Made of all the goodies eCommerce marketers can dream of. This part, above the water line, is the part you have access to. But this is just 14% of it all. This is your customer base. The rest, a whopping […]

by Greg Blazewicz, CEO at SALESmanago A heated debate has been ignited following an inaugural Gartner’s Magic Quadrant on Customer Data Platforms with Salesforce being named a category leader. The crux of the matter lies in whether all vendors labeling their products as CDPs truly meet the standards set forth by industry […]

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, small and medium eCommerce businesses face the challenge of keeping up with shifting marketing trends and roles. Recently, significant changes have been observed, particularly regarding the role of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) and the emergence of new job titles in the United States. Let’s delve into […]

The Essential Role of Product Catalogs in Marketing Evolution

In the dynamic realm of digital marketing, Product Catalogs act as the vital link between your eCommerce platform and SALESmanago. They aren’t just useful but essential for maximizing your marketing potential. You might be wondering, ‘I’ve already integrated XML Product Feeds, why consider another integration to Product Catalogs?’ While XML Product Feeds […]

From Streetwear to Spotlight: How Pitbull West Coast Achieved a 1265% Email CTR Surge

When it encountered a growth plateau, Pitbull West Coast was already making waves with its unique blend of streetwear and sportswear. The challenge was clear: how to leverage technology to transcend traditional marketing limitations and truly connect with their audience. Opting for SALESmanago stemmed from the limitations of the previous system. The […]

Getting in Bed with AI? Remember, Safety First!

In the dance between technology and commerce, eCommerce companies find themselves at a crossroads as they consider cuddling up with the tempting world of generative AI. A recent Gartner report, titled “4 Ways Generative AI Will Impact CISOs and Their Teams,” provides a backstage pass to the glitzy show that is the future […]

Innovation Collective. Welcome to the coolest club in the neighborhood😎

Crave to be where the action is? Step right up and join the ranks of the trailblazers in the SALESmanago Innovation Collective – a community of active users who are at the forefront of our development. The Innovation Collective is a dedicated advisory group of active users and partners who have expressed […]

Take Pleasure from the Latest Yahoo and Gmail Knots and Fetters – with Kamasutra!

Major players like Google and Yahoo are introducing new rules for bulk email senders, setting the stage for a more secure and efficient email environment. This shift brings challenges for businesses, particularly B2B organizations, as they grapple with stricter thresholds for reported spam rates. You can suffer in these latest knots and fetters […]

Marketers lose the right to choose their tools. Do you have to let it go?

by Aleksander Skałka, Director of Solutions Consulting & Sales Enablement Observing trends among the greatest eCommerce players, marketers from small and medium companies must wonder, how did this happen, that their daily challenges differ so much from the problems that bother the biggest industry’s players? Latest observation: marketers lose the influence to […]

About Us

Community

More

Customer Data Platform

Campaigns Management

Omnichannel Execution

Website

Knowledge Center

Books

Academy

Affiliation Program