Not long ago, people predicted that bricks-and-mortar bookstores would disappear because they can’t compete with the speed, variety and price of internet shopping. Well, they were wrong. This week, the online retail giant Amazon announced that it would open its own physical bookshop in Seattle.
The company’s foray into the physical is seen as an admission that the paper book won’t soon die despite the e-book revolution Amazon helped start a decade ago. So what is behind this decision?
First of all, Amazon doesn’t just sell books despite being America’s largest book merchant. As such, the company has collected an enormous amount of data about its customers, ranging from when people buy toothpaste to what kind of books they like. With the opening of Amazon’s first physical bookshop, maybe the company knows something about where the industry is heading that we don’t. One thing is clear, it is good news for readers.