Amazon.com Inc. announced yesterday that it plans to close all 68 physical presence stores and toy stores in the US and the UK, ending some of its longest-running retail experiments.
The news was first reported by Reuters, while it marks a critical turning point for the company that started its activity as an online bookstore, leading to the bankruptcy of the retail stores of books and music genres Borders.
Amazon has announced that it will focus more on the availability of everyday items, but also on a department store logic, in order to continue its progress.
Following the opening of Seattle's first bookstore in 2015, Amazon tested a number of retail sales ideas, including cashless mini-markets, supermarkets, and a retail chain that it promoted as “4- star ”selling toys, household items, but also other goods that are in high demand among consumers.
Amazon aimed to reach consumers in more places, bringing its online presence closer to the real world.
Its bookstores could extract from a rich collection of information readers' preferences or even their views on the operation of the Amazon website.
However, the company's innovative approaches were not enough to keep up with Amazon's online shopping presence.
Revenues of the company 's physical stores, which accounted for just 3% of sales of $ 137 billion in the last quarter, largely reflecting consumer spending on Whole Foods subsidiary, were often unable to follow the growth of other businesses. Amazon.
Wedbush Securities, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said that the active Amazon was right in its decision to get rid of physical presence bookstores, which were incompatible with its course, such as the purchase of gas stations for the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Inc. .
According to Patser, Andy Jesse, Amazon's new chief executive, made the move after analyzing the company's business activities since he took office in July. "Retail sales are difficult and they are discovering that," he said.
The vice president of physical retail company Cameron Janes left Amazon after 14 years in November, as he said in a post on LinkedIn. He is now the commercial director at REI and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Amazon will close physical stores on different dates and notify its customers. Employees will receive compensation or may receive assistance in finding work at other nearby corporate stores selling fresh produce, according to a company announcement.
Amazon declined to specify the exact number of job cuts.
Source: RES-EAP