A Closer Look at Amazon’s First Brick-and-Mortar Store

Source: ABC News

Amazon seems to be the name dominating all the headlines these days, what with the unveiling of its new one-hour delivery service. And now, it has another milestone to add to the list – its very first brick-and-mortar store.

That’s right. Amazon celebrated the grand opening of its first ever staffed location on February 3. The store serves as a pickup and drop-off location for students on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. (It was rumored that Amazon had plans to open its first flagship store in Manhattan, but those plans never came to fruition).

Purdue students are now able to order everything from textbooks, laptops, Mac and other Amazon products through Amazon Student. When the item arrives at Amazon’s Purdue store, students will be notified via email or text. The item can then be picked at one of the store’s lockers or through a store employee. Store employees are also available to help students with returns.

Another perk – Amazon is offering free one-day shipping for students who ship their purchases to the Purdue store.

It will be interesting to see how Amazon’s foray into brick-and-mortar plays out. Will this move into physical retail allow Amazon to enhance its customer experience and improve local distribution? Or should the online giant just stick to what it knows best and focus on optimizing its online presence? Either way, Amazon’s first store serves as an interesting experiment for other online businesses looking to make the move to brick-and-mortar.

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