Amazon Faces Brick-and-Mortar Woes as It Closes All 87 Pop-Up Stores
Amazon announced on March 6 that it will close all 87 of its pop-up stores.
The stores seem to have not performed as well as the company expected.
The company will, however, continue to focus on its bookstores.
Amazon announced on March 6 that it will be shuttering all of its 87 pop-up stores across the U.S. Critics of the retail giant might take comfort in the irony of Amazon failing to maintain a stable physical presence, having made life hell for retailers that run brick-and-mortar stores.
The closures are expected to occur by late April. Amazon maintains pop-up shops at Whole Foods and Kohl’s locations, as well as malls across the country, but given the small number and Amazon’s utility as a source of online shopping, this is unlikely to drastically affect consumers who already frequent Jeff Bezos’ service.
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Amazon Pop-Up Stores
Amazon opened its first physical bookstore, Amazon Books, in Seattle back in 2015. As #WorldBookDay trends on Twitter a day after Amazon’s announcement, it’s useful to revisit the big A’s original business model: that of a comprehensive bookseller. Amazon’s pop-up shops have offered potential customers opportunities to try Amazon products, such as the Kindle or Fire tablet.
However, it looks like Amazon is scaling back on pop-ups in favor of books and a broad range of products.
“Across our Amazon network, we regularly evaluate our businesses to ensure we’re making thoughtful decisions around how we can best serve our customers,” an Amazon spokesperson told CNBC. “After much review, we came to the decision to discontinue our pop-up kiosk program, and are instead expanding Amazon Books and Amazon 4-star, where we provide a more comprehensive customer experience and broader selection.”
Read: These Unusual Catchwords Helped Scale Amazon Into a Multibillion-Dollar Company
Future Amazon Plans
Amazon is still expected to move forward with other plans that should expand its physical presence. Grocery stores, more bookstores and additional cashierless convenience stores are on the company’s radar, according to Fortune.
Find Out: How Much Is Amazon Worth?
However, the failure of Amazon’s stores has some analysts questioning if the retailer can even sustain a significant physical presence. Either way, it’s unlikely that the company’s CEO will suffer too much from this restructuring. Forbes estimates that Jeff Bezos and his family have a net worth of more than $134 billion as of March 7.
Find out about Jeff Bezos’ most outrageous business failures.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Amazon Faces Brick-and-Mortar Woes as It Closes All 87 Pop-Up Stores
