Amazon's retail experiment will also include California 'pop-up' stores for holiday season
In addition to a new permanent fixture in Manhattan, Amazon will be dabbling in the retail market with a pair of new temporary locations in San Francisco and Sacramento this holiday season to push sales of its hardware, the company has confirmed.
Amazon plans to use its stores to push sales of its own hardware, like the Fire Phone.
Amazon's new San Francisco "pop-up kiosk," set to be located downtown at Market Street and Fifth Street, was first revealed by GeekWire. The location is expected to open next week, on Oct. 22.
Amazon later confirmed not only the upcoming San Francisco store, but also a Sacramento location for the holiday season. The online retailer revealed that the locations will be intended to push its own tablets, as well as its smartphone and set-top streaming box, all of which aim to compete with respective Apple products.
"We're excited to open new pop-up kiosks in San Francisco and Sacramento in time for the holidays so that customers can try out our new devices," the company said. "The team is moving incredibly quickly - already this year we've launched Fire TV, Fire phone, new Fire tablets, new Kindle e-readers, and a bunch of new features and services. While customers can already see our products online and at retailers like Best Buy and Staples, we wanted to provide another option to try out our full line-up leading into the holidays."
Confirmation of Amazon's temporary locations comes on the heels of the news that it will open its first brick and mortar store in Manhattan. That more permanent location will offer more than Amazon's own hardware, as the company aims to offer same-day delivery of certain resold products to New Yorkers.
Amazon's New York City location is also apparently on track to open in time for the holidays at 7 West 34th St., located in inside a 12-story building adjacent to the Empire State Building. The location will reportedly have inventory and will serve as a "mini-warehouse" for the company, and customers will be able to return and exchange products, or pick up an order they placed online.
Amazon's moves into traditional retail place the company in even more direct competition with Apple, which of course has its own highly successful retail presence around the globe. Amazon stepped up competition with Apple in 2011 with the launch of its first color touchscreen Kindle Fire tablet, and this year the company debuted its first smartphone, the Fire Phone, which has apparently stumbled out of the gate.
Amazon plans to use its stores to push sales of its own hardware, like the Fire Phone.
Amazon's new San Francisco "pop-up kiosk," set to be located downtown at Market Street and Fifth Street, was first revealed by GeekWire. The location is expected to open next week, on Oct. 22.
Amazon later confirmed not only the upcoming San Francisco store, but also a Sacramento location for the holiday season. The online retailer revealed that the locations will be intended to push its own tablets, as well as its smartphone and set-top streaming box, all of which aim to compete with respective Apple products.
"We're excited to open new pop-up kiosks in San Francisco and Sacramento in time for the holidays so that customers can try out our new devices," the company said. "The team is moving incredibly quickly - already this year we've launched Fire TV, Fire phone, new Fire tablets, new Kindle e-readers, and a bunch of new features and services. While customers can already see our products online and at retailers like Best Buy and Staples, we wanted to provide another option to try out our full line-up leading into the holidays."
Confirmation of Amazon's temporary locations comes on the heels of the news that it will open its first brick and mortar store in Manhattan. That more permanent location will offer more than Amazon's own hardware, as the company aims to offer same-day delivery of certain resold products to New Yorkers.
Amazon's New York City location is also apparently on track to open in time for the holidays at 7 West 34th St., located in inside a 12-story building adjacent to the Empire State Building. The location will reportedly have inventory and will serve as a "mini-warehouse" for the company, and customers will be able to return and exchange products, or pick up an order they placed online.
Amazon's moves into traditional retail place the company in even more direct competition with Apple, which of course has its own highly successful retail presence around the globe. Amazon stepped up competition with Apple in 2011 with the launch of its first color touchscreen Kindle Fire tablet, and this year the company debuted its first smartphone, the Fire Phone, which has apparently stumbled out of the gate.
Comments
"Amazon's moves into traditional retail place the company in even more direct competition with Apple"
You guys are hilarious....competing with Apple?
Look at what Apple is selling and what Amazon is selling, have a clue before writing his sort of rubbish.
j/k, i would never buy that piece of crap.
I have a lot of faith in Amazon, most of the time, but this kinda just seems like a bad idea.
Wow Jeff Bezos really has a Steve Jobs complex doesn't he? I mean there's no other reason he keeps pushing hardware other than he thinks he some Steve Jobs like figure.
That may have something to do with it.I really don't know where they think this is going to take them. They already outsource brick-and-mortar operations to the big box stores, anyway. People shop at Best Buy, then turn around and buy it from Amazon. Best Buy has the overhead, and Amazon makes the profit. A big point in Amazon's favor is the sales tax avoidance. Not that it really saves people a lot of money, but a lot of people lose their minds thinking that they got out of paying a tax. Just look at what happens when they have the back-to-school tax-free weekends in some states. It's as bad as Black Friday. If Amazon expands this to states where they don't have a distribution presence, they will then have to start charging sales tax in those states. I don't get it.
Not funny and i wouldn't put it past them.
From this story 11 months ago here on AI: Apple doubles Tiffany's in retail sales per square foot
Does that mean they pay you $15 if you pick up a free Fire phone? That gives a whole new meaning to "bottom of the barrel"... because they actually went under it. Where else do they have to go... other than the "fire down below"
Bad.... really bad... apologies!.... :smokey:
"Amazon's moves into traditional retail place the company in even more direct competition with Apple"
You guys are hilarious....competing with Apple?
Look at what Apple is selling and what Amazon is selling, have a clue before writing his sort of rubbish.
Hey, not so fast, with these retail pop-ups Amazon might reach double-digits for their phone.
But but ... think of all the 13 years olds you can mingle and share Android experiences with not to mention the Genius bar will be so useful for sorting out that Kindle issue you have.
With the same business goals in mind, Apple talks about- can't wait to see what people will do. People. Doing.
There's a big difference, methinks.
I hope this hurts Best Buy the most.
Best Buy sued to make Amazon collect sales tax in California even though Amazon had no physical presence in the state. After losing this battle, Amazon has officially entered California with Amazon Fresh and now these pop up locations.
What are u talking about. Jeff Bezo's bought andturned around the Washington Post. What other newspaper did Steve Jobs own and do the same to? Amazon also produces their own content- what does Apple produce?
They couldn't be more different and Jeff is Jeff.
No Genius Bar needed. Kindle Fires have MayDay built into them.
I hope this hurts Best Buy the most.
Best Buy sued to make Amazon collect sales tax in California even though Amazon had no physical presence in the state. After losing this battle, Amazon has officially entered California with Amazon Fresh and now these pop up locations.
That's not what happened. California passed a law to collect sales tax from all online retailers shipping to California addresses. Amazon fought it, but eventually gave in. Amazon received tax breaks from the state to open several distribution centers in California.
Let's admit it. A lot of us buy from Amazon to avoid state sales taxes, since they've avoided establishing physical retail locations. I wonder what effect these pop-ups will have overall.