The era of e-commerce. Digital transformation, which has been on the rise recently, has increased both the demand for e-commerce and the volume of e-commerce globally. As this is the case, many retail stores have left their place to e-commerce platforms. One of the first companies that come to mind when it comes to e-commerce Amazon In fact, it provides services both online and physically in some countries. However, the company announced that it has decided to close 68 physical stores in the US and UK. More than 500 of the company’s Whole Foods Market stores and more than 20 Amazon Fresh grocery stores will remain open.
Company spokesperson Betsy Harden said in a statement that the company plans to focus more on Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market, Amazon Go and Amazon Style stores, and Just Walk Out technology. If you remember, we heard the news that Amazon has integrated the cashierless grocery technology called Just Walk Out into a Whole Foods store the other day. we shared. Amazon’s new announcement came right after this news.
In fact, company filings also show that sales in their physical stores have dropped. In 2018, sales of its physical stores were worth more than $17.2 billion, following Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods. Last year, that amount fell below $17.1 billion. So the demand for physical is decreasing day by day.
Amazon opened its first physical store in Seattle in 2015. As time progressed, the company opened physical stores in 13 more states. Amazon announced 4-star stores in 2018. However, despite these closures, Amazon is not considering ending the physical store experience completely. Because, the company had recently announced Amazon Style, the first clothing store that uses technology to request products to customers’ dressing rooms.
