Amazon is rolling out a new line of pop-up stores with rotating themes that the giant retailer calls a physical extension of Amazon.com.
:no_upscale():quality(75))
When examples of the concept first opened before the holidays, they were dubbed Presented by Amazon, which the company had been testing since the summer. That name has been dropped in favor of simply calling them Amazon Pop Up.
The themes of the pop-ups vary from place to place, and according to an unfixed schedule. One location currently offers a focus on cameras, while others have a Food Network theme, GeekWire reports.
Themes that have come and gone since the holidays include Holiday Toy Lists, Barbie, Marvel's Avengers and an Audible reading room.
So far there are five new Amazon pop-ups in five different markets: Glendale Galleria in California; Park Meadows in Lone Tree, Colorado; Westfield Old Orchard in Skokie, Illinois; The Woodlands Mall in metro Houston; and Fashion Show Las Vegas. Another location will open later this year in a building that Amazon owns in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle.
The pop-up stores are emblematic of a flow from digital to physical and back again, Salsify Vice President of Strategy and Innovation Molly Schonthal told Path-to-Purchase IQ. Salsify is a product experience management platform.
The new pop-ups are distinct from a previous iteration of Amazon pop-ups that were stand-alone kiosks that let people try out tech like Echo speakers and Fire tablets, along with services like Prime Video and Kindle Unlimited. In early 2019, the company closed those 87 pop-ups, which were in Whole Foods stores and malls in more than 20 states.
Other physical stores operated by the online retailer include 18 Amazon 4-Star stores, which sell various popular goods from the website, and 26 Amazon Go locations, which offer cashier-less checkout. The company also owns more than 500 Whole Foods grocery stores.
Though growing, physical retail is still a small piece of the Amazon pie. As of the third quarter of 2019, physical store revenue accounted for only about 6% of the company's total revenue, which was $70B during the quarter.
