SEATTLE, Washington: Amazon.com has announced that it plans to close all 68 of its brick-and-mortar bookstores, pop-ups and shops carrying toys and home goods in the U.S. and UK so it could focus more on its grocery markets and a department store concept.
The move marks a turning point for a company that began as an online bookseller, opening its first book shop in Seattle in 2015.
Amazon has experimented with several retail ideas, such as convenience stores without cashiers and operating supermarkets.
But its innovations were not enough to counter the trend towards online shopping that it helped establish, with the revenue of its physical stores accounting for just 3 percent of its $137 billion in sales last quarter, mainly reflective of consumer spending at its Whole Foods subsidiary, which has often failed to keep pace with growth in Amazon’s other businesses.
“Internet-savvy Amazon was right to forgo the niche market of brick-and-mortar book shoppers-as bad a match as electric carmaker Tesla opening gas stations,” said Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Securities, as quoted by Reuters.
Pachter added that Andy Jassy, Amazon’s new chief executive, likely made this decision while reviewing the retailer’s myriad businesses, since taking the top job in July. “Retail is hard, and they are discovering that,” he stressed.
In a LinkedIn post, Cameron Janes, Amazon’s former vice president of physical retail sales, announced that he has left the company after 14 years.
Amazon said it will close its bookstore locations on various dates and notify customers with signs, adding that workers will receive severance or can receive help finding jobs at any company stores nearby, such as more than a dozen of its Amazon Fresh grocery branches.
Amazon declined to comment on how many jobs would be cut.
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