Amazon.com responded quickly to published rumors over the weekend that it was planning to open a chain of physical locations in the UK where customers could pick up products ordered online.
The company said it had “no plans” to open any such locations, but did not comment further on plans or if it could partner with other retailers.
The company said it had “no plans” to open any such locations, but did not comment further on plans or if it could partner with other retailers.
- KC's View:
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It seems to me that one of the few areas in which in might make sense for Amazon to open physical locations would be for its Amazon Fresh business, in zip codes where it has sufficient penetration to make such an investment sensible. And it might even make more sense to create an alliance with another retailer - say, a company like 7-Eleven with a broad presence - that would create delivery depots.
But the one thing that would be an enormous mistake for Amazon would be to start investing in bricks-and-mortar. What Amazon does, it does great - and better than any other company with which I’ve dealt. And there’s plenty of room in the e-commerce business for Amazon to continue to grow.
