This all signals a much deeper and more historic shift in the strategic purpose of physical stores, which I\u2019ve alluded to before; that being that physical stores will increasingly serve as a distribution channel for brand experiences<\/em> as opposed to simply products<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 On an escalating scale, stores<\/em>, not televisions, are where people will have their first encounter with new brands and products. The store will serve as the front end of the experience, the buzz agent and the catalyst for consumer evangelism and purchases across multiple online and offline touch points.\u00a0 So, the store is no longer the end of the marketing cycle but rather the beginning – the living, breathing advertisement for the brand and product.<\/p>\n

I believe that Amazon has recognized this fundamental shift.\u00a0 The question becomes whether the company that did so much to disrupt our concept of the e-commerce experience<\/em>, can apply the same craft and cunning to the in-store experience<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Doug Stephens It was reported\u00a0this week that behemoth online retailer Amazon is planning to open a brick and mortar store location in its home market [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[191,183,24,23],"class_list":["post-1584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-amazon","tag-e-commerce","tag-retail","tag-trends"],"yoast_head":"\n