Strategy: Amazon Moves to takeover Campus Bookstores
This summer during my son's college visits I noticed many top-notch institutions (in the Midwest and on both the coasts) have teamed up with Amazon to let them takeover their campus bookstores. Barnes&Noble is out - Amazon is in.
Almost overnight Amazon has transformed itself from an online e-commerce site to a demand fulfillment/logistics business. They are growing their "real world" presence to support their enormous "online" presence and starting to offer next-day delivery service in major metros by opening new warehouses, building a door-to-door delivery service using Amazon vans, opening retail outlets... so their move to takeover campus bookstores is an extension of the same strategy. They get pre-existing storefronts located in premium campus locations, right next to their target customers (students) which can also serve as convenient pickup spot for all the stuff they already buy online.
This move is also good for campus bookstores - they remain relevant on the campus and to their student body. They also receive a small cut of the online Amazon sales incl. the textbook orders which had significantly shifted away from the bookstores to online vendors like Amazon.
These new Amazon stores look nothing like the previous bookstores and have been transformed into a new type business which is more relevant to the students. Design of these stores closely resembles the retail store designs of Apple, Microsoft, UPS and FedEx ... showing very strong branding, consistent design across campuses, very limited product displays (low inventory), kiosks for order processing, most orders are placed online, and customers show-up to pick-up their item.
Its clear Amazon wants to sell them much more than just books and spirit ware. Lots of the millennials already buy many of their day to day supplies online instead of going to the big-box stores. By seamlessly integrating their online catalog/ordering, Amazon will be able to deliver the same experience without all that inventory... that's not just good its brilliant.
Not long before this idea moves beyond college campuses, so Walmart, Target, FedEx, USPS, UPS... should all watch-out or be Amazoned!!!
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