AMAZON IS OPENING a physical store in Seattle called Amazon Books, its first real-world retail store for books since the company’s inception in 1997.
The store will include both books and Amazon products, such as the Kindle, Echo, and Fire TV, the company said on its website.
The company will use information it has gathered from its online store, such as customer ratings, to help select titles in its physical store.
“We’re taking the data we have and we’re creating physical places with it,” Jennifer Cast, vice president of Amazon Books, told The Seattle Times.
Books will also include a placard that has their Amazon.com rating and customer reviews, according to The Verge.
Here’s how those reviews will be displayed alongside the physical book:
One key difference from traditional book stores is that books will be arranged so that their covers face out, rather than with their spines showing. It’s an interesting decision since stacking books this way takes up more room.
“We realised that we felt sorry for the books that were spine out,” Cast told the Seattle Times.
The price of the book in the store will be the same as the online price. It’s unclear if online deals translate, however.
The opening of a brick-and-mortar store shows that people still like the idea of browsing a book shop, despite the popularity of Kindles and other e-readers. Sales of physical books actually gained momentum in 2015, according to figures compiled by The Guardian.
The store, which Amazon says is not a pop-up, is located in Seattle’s University Village. The company has previously opened temporary retail locations to sell its technology products.
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