{"id":1584,"date":"2012-02-07T16:24:33","date_gmt":"2012-02-07T16:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.retailprophet.com\/blog\/?p=1584"},"modified":"2012-02-07T16:24:33","modified_gmt":"2012-02-07T16:24:33","slug":"why-amazon-needs-stores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.retailprophet.com\/2012\/02\/07\/why-amazon-needs-stores\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Amazon Needs Stores"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Doug Stephens<\/p>\n

It was reported<\/a>\u00a0this week that behemoth online retailer Amazon is planning to open a brick and mortar store location in its home market of Seattle.\u00a0 The intent, it\u2019s speculated, is to create a destination for the Kindle Fire and a selection of exclusive Amazon content.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Given Amazon\u2019s size and dominance in digital channels, one has to wonder why it would bother with brick and mortar stores at all.\u00a0 Surely it\u2019s not an effort to make Amazon a household name \u2013 that\u2019s been accomplished.\u00a0 And would the unit Kindle sales of a few stores really make a strategic difference for the company?\u00a0 Probably not.\u00a0 In fact, one could argue that the magic of Amazon\u2019s business model is that it moves enormous amounts of product without the burden of operating physical locations. So why stores?\u00a0 Why now and to what point?<\/p>\n

The answer may lie in one very simple truth.\u00a0 When I try to picture the Kindle Fire experience<\/em>, nothing comes to mind. \u00a0There is no tangible, sensory or emotional connection to the product at all. Whereas with Apple, I can clearly conjure images of crowded stores with people aged 6-60 lining up to try the new iPhone or iPad, my Kindle Fire recall is a vacuum.\u00a0 And I doubt that I\u2019m alone.<\/p>\n

In truth, what Amazon needs to sell over and above the Kindle Fire, is the \u201cKindle Fire Experience\u201d \u2013and that\u2019s where stores play a strategic role.\u00a0 It used to be that if you wanted to demonstrate the experience of your product, whether it was snow tires or breakfast cereal, you just bought lots of television advertising.\u00a0 In fact, in 1965, a mere 3 television ads in primetime bought you 80% of the viewing public!\u00a0 Today, that number is closer to 117 and that only guarantees you the potential to reach your audience \u2013 there\u2019s no guarantee your ads will actually be consumed.\u00a0 I can\u2019t think of many brands that can afford 117 primetime television ads.<\/p>\n

The Store is<\/em> the Ad<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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":"\nWhy Amazon Needs Stores | Retail Prophet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.retailprophet.com\/2012\/02\/07\/why-amazon-needs-stores\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why 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