Why Amazon Could Soon Dominate Brick-And-Mortar, Too

Through the years, and thanks to an almost countless string of success stories, Amazon has carved out a name for itself as the industry leader in online sales.

But could the massive eCommerce giant soon also be a serious player in the world of brick-and-mortar retail stores as well?

That’s certainly what Michelle Burtchell, vice president of marketing for Salsify, a product content management platform built for retailers, believes.

Burtchell argued recently that Amazon is entering the brick-and-mortar game with some serious leverage already on its side. Amazon’s brick-and-mortar retail locations come in smaller sizes so it doesn’t have to pay nearly as much in overhead for things like rent. It can sell merchandise at discounted online prices because of its sheer volume, and its product offerings in each of its physical retail locations are “highly curated collections” because of its ability to shrewdly use its existing customer data, such as customer ratings and sales, to decide which books and other products to stock in its real-world stores.

“The power of content is huge,” according to Burtchell. “Any retailer looking to capitalize on the winning combination of brick-and-click can learn from this strategy. Want to know how to stock your shelves? Button up your online product content strategy to include a ratings and reviews section, data that’s invaluable for insight. Combine this with the fact that 82 percent of consumers want to see a minimum of three product reviews whenever they’re considering a purchase, and you may want to revisit your approach to product content to derive mega value from it both in-store and online.”

Amazon plans to open about 100 brick-and-mortar stores across the nation in the coming years, where it will sell everything from books (how the eCommerce giant got its start) to its Kindle and Fire Tablet devices to the Echo, which can provide a wave of smart home and personal assistant options.

“One of the things that’s happened over the past decade is that, as consumers, the power has shifted to be in our hands. We all have smartphones in our pockets, and the thing that we’re all looking for is information,” according to Burtchell. “It’s put a lot of traditional brick-and-mortar retailers into this reactive mode. They are used to having been able to drive the experience by driving people into their stores and allowing them to merchandise. That’s been completely flipped on its head really over the last five years when mass adoption of smartphones has taken control and millennials are raised from a digital perspective. Amazon understands that and understands their customer more than anything.”

Burtchell believes that Amazon will succeed in the brick-and-mortar game by using its physical stores to introduce a new wave of customers to some of its more innovative products, like the Echo and Alexa, or its Dash Buttons that can allow a consumer to easily reorder items like mouthwash or paper towels — all of which Amazon will have a leg-up on due to its trove of already existing customer data.

“In this world where everyone is focused on that retail experience that is distributed to the point of the consumer wherever we want to shop, Amazon understands this and has built out the convenience economy around the consumer,” according to Burtchell. “This is simply them adding another layer. Amazon’s approach is so focused on the consumer and making sure that the consumer has what they need to make that purchase decision is pretty smart, and I think clearly something is working. Amazon’s entry into brick-and-mortar stores further displays where the market is going. You can simply call up to Alexa and say you need something, and Amazon is going to have it to your door for the next day.”

It remains to be seen whether Amazon will succeed in the brick-and-mortar retail game where so many other retailers have failed, but the eTailer’s foray into physical stores will certainly be worth watching over the next few years.