亚马逊将开第一家实体店

    全球最大的电子商务公司亚马逊（Amazon）终于要开实体店了。

    《华尔街日报》（Wall Street Journal）本周四报道，据消息人士称，亚马逊公司将在纽约开设首家实体店，开业时间正好选在今年的圣诞购物季之前。

    这家店的位置在曼哈顿的34号街，附近的商圈有包括梅西百货（Macy’s）旗舰店在内的许多大品牌，同时这家实体店也将起到一个小仓库的作用，向纽约市内发送一部分当日送达的快递，并提供退换货和到店取货服务。

    我们未能及时联系到亚马逊对此事发表评论。

    福雷斯特研究公司（Forrester Research）的电子商务分析师苏察雷塔•马尔波罗对《财富》（Fortune）表示，这家门店对亚马逊的作用似乎“更像一家邮局”，而不是零售店，这家门店对亚马逊将产生怎样的经济推动力，还有待观察。

    马尔波罗表示：“他们需要弄明白，对于一家实体店来说，什么才能让消费者产生共鸣。他们是想看产品还是只想到店取货？他们想看亚马逊出产的电子设备吗？”

    消息人士对《华尔街日报》透露，亚马逊可能会利用这家门店展示自家的电子设备，比如Kindle系列电子书阅读器、Fire智能手机和Fire电视机顶盒等等。如果纽约的实体店获得了成功，这个模式可能会被推广到美国其他城市。

    就在亚马逊筹备开设实体店的同时，像梅西百货和内曼百库斯百货（Neiman Marcus）等传统的实体连锁店正在试水当日速递，还有一些企业正在试用谷歌（Google）提供的快递服务。有些实体连锁店还利用旗下几百家门店里的货物来加快发货速度，这样一来，这些门店在某种程度上就成了“配货中心”，以此与称霸美国的亚马逊抗衡。比如梅西百货的全部800余家门店都参与到了它的在线业务中，塔吉特百货（Target）等其它商家也在加速提升这一能力。

    近来，已有一批网商纷纷试水实体业务，表明实体店依然具有不可取代的价值。其中包括眼镜零售商沃比派克（Warby Parker）以及Bonobos、Birchbox和服装租赁服务Rent-the-Runway等。（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    The world’s largest e-commerce company is finally going to embrace bricks and mortar.

    The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reported that Amazon.com AMZN -2.27% will open its first physical store in New York in time for the holiday shopping season, citing people familiar with its plans.

    The store would be located on 34th Street in Manhattan, close to a shopping district that includes Macy’s M -2.73% flagship and serve as a mini-warehouse, with limited assortment used for same-day delivery within New York, returns and exchanges, and pickups of online orders, according to the Journal’s report.

    Amazon was not immediately available for comment.

    SucharitaMulpuru, an e-commerce analyst at Forrester Research, tells the Fortune the space sounds “closer to a post-office” than a retail store and that it remains to be seen what economic boost the location will provide to the company.

    “They need to figure out what resonates with shoppers with respect to Amazon in a physical store,” Mulpuru says. “Do they want to look at product? Do they just want to pick up product? Do they want to look at Amazon electronics equipment?”

    Sources told the Journal that Amazon might use the space to showcase its own devices like the Kindle e-readers, Fire smartphone or Fire TV set-top box. If the New York store works out, it could serve as a model for a rollout to other U.S. cities, the Journal’s sources said.

    The news comes at a time traditional brick and mortar chains like Macy’s and Neiman Marcus are testing same-day delivery, while others are trying out a service offered by Google. GOOG -2.03% It also comes as those physical retailers get nimbler at using merchandise in their hundreds of stores to speed up delivery, turning them into de facto distribution centers to help them compete with the Amazon facilities that dot the country. For example, Macy’s is now using all 800 or so of its stores to help its online efforts, while others like Target TGT -1.93% are gearing up for that capability.

    A number of online-only retailers have experimented with physical stores of late, showing the enduring value of brick-and-mortar locations. They include eyewear retailer Warby Parker, Bonobos, Birchbox, and Rent-the-Runway.