One of the biggest ironies in the e-commerce industry is that while the companies are selling online, the next step for them is to open retail stores. We have seen companies which are moving from retails stores to selling online and some of them are even moving exclusively to online stores. However, we are seeing giant e-commerce companies such as Amazon and others opening retail stores. At the moment, you must have seen various retail stores from Amazon in the US which do provide a lot of new invention in the segment but are still retail stores.
For example, Amazon debuted its Amazon Go stores in the US where you don’t need to pay anything upfront as the money will be deducted from your Amazon account and the receipt will be sent to you. However, the fact of the matter is that they are still retail stores and it is something that Amazon was rivalling in the first place.
Nonetheless, we are now getting reports of a new country where Amazon is planning for its retail stores and we are talking about Germany. Yes, Amazon is already operating in the European markets online but it is now looking to get offline too. With the opening of Amazon’s retail stores in Germany, you will soon be able to buy Amazon stuff from the stores. We are also expecting Amazon to test Amazon Go facilities in Germany which should be a great addition to its fleet.
Amazon’s director for Germany said in a report, as picked up by IBTimes, that “The fact is that we know that customers shop offline and that they like variety,”. He also said in an earlier interview that “it’s not a question of if, but when” on questions of Amazon opening retail stores in Germany. So we feel that Amazon is now looking at markets on an individual basis to see where retail stores are still dominating sales and trying to capture that market too.