Amazon to open high-street shops?
Amazon are looking to open high-street shops, the Times has revealed. The £35.6 billion online giant has been looking to fill the gap left by Borders book shops, who recently went into administration.
With the website still growing rapidly, high-street stores would allow customers to pick up their purchases themselves from in-store, rather than wait on a delivery. With Amazon fulfilling more and more orders every day, such a service would be a great relief for both impatient shoppers and an over-stretched postal service.
An insider close to the proposed move told the Times “”When Amazon was just selling books and CDs that fitted easily through the letterbox it was fine to be a web-only business, but now it has branched out into everything from children’s bikes to electricals it believes it could boost sales by having stores that offer a collection point for shoppers. It will probably be an Argos-style operation.”
It’s an interesting reversal of fortunes. Not long ago there was a fear that online retailers would make the trip to the shops all but obsolete. While they certainly have been stiff competition for traditional shops, who’d have thought we’d ever see the web merchants on the high-street?
Via: The Times
