A brick-and-mortar bookstore run by Amazon was a longstanding punchline as recently as last year, but then the eCommerce giant actually did it. Rather than resting on its laurels, though, Amazon and Jeff Bezos seem eager to push forward with the company’s B&M footprint.
That’s the takeaway from comments made by the Amazon CEO at a Tuesday (May 17) annual shareholders event, The Wall Street Journal reported. While a company of Amazon’s size and pedigree always has multiple projects humming on multiple burners, Bezos was asked by attendees to elucidate his plans for Amazon’s B&M bookstores, which as of today include an up-and-running storefront in Seattle and another under construction in San Diego.
“We’re definitely going to open additional stores, how many we don’t know yet,” Bezos told shareholders. “In these early days it’s all about learning, rather than trying to earn a lot of revenue.”
Where, when and how many of these stores might pop up remains to be seen, though reports from February indicated that Amazon could be shooting in the 300- to 400-storefront range. Locations would be strictly researched before selection, just as other online brands like Warby Parker have done to manage their leap from digital to physical sales.
Bezos also took some time to touch on recent expansions to its Prime services, which has seen a veritable explosion of content added to its streaming platforms as well as incremental, targeted improvements to shipping times and coverage areas. Bezos didn’t outline what new features might be coming to Prime in the near future, but it’s clear that Amazon is far from done with its decade-long project of turning Prime into an irresistible buy for the average shopper.
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