Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, has been selling books online since 1995. While Amazon started off as an online bookstore, it has since expanded to include a wide variety of products and services. But does Amazon have physical bookstores?
The answer is yes, although not in the way you may think. In 2015, Amazon opened its first physical bookstore in Seattle, Washington.
This store was followed by two more stores in San Diego and Portland in 2016. The stores feature books that are hand-selected by Amazon editors, who take into account customer ratings, pre-orders and sales data when deciding which titles to include in their selection.
In addition to these three stores, Amazon also opened four pop-up bookstores in 2017. These pop-up stores are located in malls across the United States and feature a curated selection of titles based on customer reviews and ratings on Amazon’s website. The books are displayed with QR codes that customers can scan with their phones to read reviews or buy the book instantly from the Amazon website.
Amazon also plans to open more brick-and-mortar bookstores this year. In addition to these new stores, Amazon has been expanding its presence at Whole Foods locations across the country and now has over 20 locations where customers can pick up their orders from an Amazon locker.
Conclusion: So while Amazon does not have traditional physical bookstores like Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million, it does have a growing presence in physical retail with its three stores and four pop-up stores across the United States. With its continued expansion into brick-and-mortar retailing, it’s likely that we’ll see even more physical locations from Amazon in the future.