E-Commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) has opened its first physical store at Purdue University campus in West Lafayette, IN.
The store allows Purdue students to order everything from textbooks, laptops, Mac or other Amazon products via Amazon Student. The items can then be collected from the store which has lockers that can be accessed by typing in a code. The store employees will help the students with returns and answer queries.
Amazon plans to open up more such stores and in this regard, has been inviting other educational institutions. Presently, a second Purdue campus outlet is being planned to be opened later this year.
Despite the enormous success enjoyed by Amazon globally, it is now facing stiff competition from other companies joining the e-Commerce bandwagon. The company gained significantly from its ability to deliver to customers on time anywhere in the world. However, now it needs to reinvent itself and find new solutions to maintain its lead while turning profits.
The Purdue University store is a major step in Amazon’s attempt to expand its presence in the educational textbook market. The move will further promote Amazon Student, which offers the Prime membership scheme — free shipping, streaming video and music at only $49 (£32) a year, half the usual price — to university students.
The new store could prove to be beneficial considering how Macy’s (M) flagship store attracts more than 20 million shoppers a year in New York City. It is also in line with Amazon’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos’ intention of drawing as much crowd as Apple (AAPL) stores do with every new release.
However, it is too soon to tell whether Amazon is moving in the right direction. The company enjoys a strong presence in the online retail space, and, in our view, it might be wise to channel its capital and resources into improving the online business and making it more profitable.
Currently, Amazon carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). A better-ranked stock in the same space is PetMed Express, Inc. (PETS), sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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