Amazon tries something new – brick-and-mortar stores it helped put out of business
Retail spending in brick-and-mortar stores across the U.S. has seen a steady decline as more and more Americans order basic necessities like clothing, toiletries and groceries online. Online shopping behemoth Amazon has taken over much of this market share, successfully casting itself as the one-stop-online shop for nearly everything.
But now Amazon is seemingly turning back the clock by opening its own physical stores. On Thursday, it opened its first brick-and-mortar book store in New York City, while Amazon Prime members could begin picking up groceries ordered online at two storefronts in Seattle.
The company has previously opened seven U.S. stores in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington.
Amazon Books in Manhattan has 3,000 book titles as well as products like e-reader Kindle and home assistant Echo, according to CNN. Finding out how much the books cost will depend on if you’re a member of Amazon Prime, the company’s rewards program that costs $99 a year. Prime subscribers can learn the price they’d pay for a book by scanning the cover with the Prime app. If you aren’t a member of the program that offers free two-day shipping and other perks, you’ll pay cover price for the book.
The store does not accept cash, but can be charged to an Amazon account or credit card.
Amazon will open a second bookstore in New York City this year, as well as three locations in California and one each in New Jersey and Washington.
On the opposite coast, Prime subscribers in Seattle can now visit two new AmazonFresh Pickup sites to collect groceries they ordered online, the Seattle Times reports. The facilities are drive-thrus where employees deliver the foodstuffs directly to customers’ cars. The service opened to the public Thursday after being tested by Amazon employees in the area.
Prime members select groceries and check out online. Then they select a two-hour pickup window, at least two hours from the order time. As a customer pulls in for the first time, an employee records their name and license plate number to enter into Amazon’s system. The next time they arrive, a scanner will automatically identify them via license plate and someone will come out with their groceries.
Amazon is also experimenting with checkout-free shopping in Seattle, according to USA Today. Customers at Amazon Go — currently only available to staff — pick up items they want and tap their cellphone on a turnstile as they exit the store, without ever standing in a checkout line. Technology like artificial intelligence, machine learning and sensors track what a customer has selected and put them in a virtual cart in a smartphone app, charging them to the account.
This story was originally published May 25, 2017 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Amazon tries something new – brick-and-mortar stores it helped put out of business."