My only surprise is that it took Amazon this long to want to get directly into the malls.

This will give them the storefront to display all their branded products as well as act as a pick-up and return center.

Good move.

I hope it works out for them. I am skeptical that it is a good investment. I think people shop at Amazon so they don't have to go to the mall. They aren't going to want to pick up their orders at the mall, and I am not sure making it easier to return products is good business. Most people will just say "f*ck it" rather than package and ship a $25 product for return and eat the loss. Why give back that revenue?

I ordered some Test Worx through Amazon and had it within 2 days... Not sure how it all works, but it came from a place called Superior Labs... Good move on Amazon's part but I wouldn't go pick up an order...

I could see them being interested in a few locations. But not a very high percentage of them. One of the reasons Radio Shack failed is they typically have very poor locations in older, less market-intensive parts of towns. Their stores also are much smaller for the most part than your typical Apple store.

And all those people in states that pay no sales tax will now have to.

I shop online to save money. Store fronts will have to be paid for. By me.

(02-03-2015 10:44 AM)Paul M Wrote:  And all those people in states that pay no sales tax will now have to.

I shop online to save money. Store fronts will have to be paid for. By me.

Excellent point. Living in New York I already pay sales tax because they have a distribution center in state. But it only takes one retail outlet within a state to establish nexus.

I have Prime so I don't pay for shipment, or returns. Last year I had 120 orders (orders, not items) with Amazon. At 70 years old, Amazon is a godsend. Only going to get better with all the baby boomers.

But I do think they might sell more Kindles, Fire TVs, etc., if they have a store where people can "kick the tires."

I am a devoted Amazon buyer. The two day shipping on Prime is awesome. I use it for the majority of my gift giving. The few problems I have had, Amazon has gone out of their way to satisfy me. Moving to retail stores is a move that I am not sure about. As long as it doesn't change what they do now, it would be nice to have I guess.

(02-03-2015 12:52 PM)EagleRockCafe Wrote:  I am a devoted Amazon buyer. The two day shipping on Prime is awesome. I use it for the majority of my gift giving. The few problems I have had, Amazon has gone out of their way to satisfy me. Moving to retail stores is a move that I am not sure about. As long as it doesn't change what they do now, it would be nice to have I guess.

Yeah, I was impressed with their online shipping as well.

I don't really understand the purpose of this honestly unless they are just trying to replicate the Apple / Microsoft Store models to sell their own products (Kindle, Fire Tablet, Fire TV, etc).

Seems kind of pointless.

(02-03-2015 03:02 PM)Niner National Wrote:  I don't really understand the purpose of this honestly unless they are just trying to replicate the Apple / Microsoft Store models to sell their own products (Kindle, Fire Tablet, Fire TV, etc).

Seems kind of pointless.

That'd be my guess to be honest? Sometimes you have to be willing to take a market loss in some areas, in order to score big in others...

it is puzzling to me too, I'd rather them use the money on drones.

(02-03-2015 05:19 PM)fsquid Wrote:  it is puzzling to me too, I'd rather them use the money on drones.

They proposed that idea but the FAA shot them down. Pun intended.

I saw a story that said the drones were just a publicity ploy to get them a lot of free publicity right before Black Friday two years ago.

It seems like a bad move. Why use a tactic from a business model that you made your name taking apart?

(02-04-2015 11:29 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  It seems like a bad move. Why use a tactic from a business model that you made your name taking apart?

For the same reason companies offer multiple products / services at different price levels I suppose. As long as there is more market share to grab, you can make more money. Some people still prefer the retail store model, and if done correctly, it can still be very profitable.

I just question why Radio Shack though, unless their plans are to shut down a lot of the stores. They have the benefit of being small square footage stores though, so they could be run for a fraction of the cost of a big box store. You would only need a couple employees vs the dozens of employees that you need at a Best Buy, Walmart, or Target.

Not too far from my home, Peapod has opened a 'store' (I really don't know what it is) at a former bank. My guess is that Peapod is using the storefront as a dropoff point for their drivers.

Amazon could be setting up a storefront like the old Sears Catalog Stores that rural communities, that could not support a Sears, would have. This may be part of their goal to set up same day deliveries in some communities.

I don't understand the need to take over Radio Shack's unless their is some benefit to taking over their leases. There are plenty of empty locations in many strip malls where Radio Shack's occupy their empty stores.

Radio Shack did file Chapter 11 today. So far the only confirmed company to take over some of their stores is Sprint. I still don't think Amazon is quite ready to take the retail plunge but I could see a company like Samsung take a bigger step towards opening real stores in the USA like they already have in other countries (their mini-stores in Best Buys don't count).