Amazon has been looking into establishing a physical presence over the last few years. The company that has made most of its money replacing brick and mortar stores is now looking to re-enter the retail market. However, unlike simple mom and pop stores, Amazon is bringing its technology into everyday shopping. One concept that has caught the eye is literary transforming Amazon’s digital shopping cart into a real-life store. A new physical store that only sells products with the highest customer ratings is now open. Trending products on Amazon’s website are also getting the node for these new physical locations called Amazon 4-Star.
The store is located in SoHo, a trendy neighborhood in New York, and the location will be permanent. We peeped in to see what the 4,000 square foot store has to offer. First, there’s a “Most Wished For” section. The section literally has all the products that buyers place on their Amazon wish list. Here we encountered things like baby blue Fujifilm cameras. We also found another section called “Trending around NYC.” The section showcases popular products trending in New York City. It’s an assortment of things from average household goods to even books.
Customer reviews are also available in the store. We even saw comments made by customers on certain products displayed at various locations for people to see. Amazon says that these reviews are all legit and have been verified. You may also be able to enjoy a few discounts if you’re a Prime customer. In addition to this, the price of goods in the physical stores is the same as on the website. If and when the cost on the Amazon site changes, it’s reflected immediately on the digital price tags attached to each product.
The 4-star rated products available are not just from Amazon. We also saw a few independent merchandises on offer but Amazon products including devices such as Echo Smart are dominant. Other important categories include kitchen gadgets, books, toys, consumer electronics etc.
The timing of this store couldn’t be better. The holiday season is soon approaching. It’s a very hectic shopping season and Amazon is looking to have a presence both online and offline. For the time we were there, the average rating for all the products in the store stood at 4.4 stars. All the items in the store have a total of 1.8 million reviews.
For many analysts, Amazon 4-Star is simply an attempt by the e-commerce giant to bring a portion of its online business closer to consumers. The company has been undertaking an aggressive attempt to establish retail locations around the country and it’s very likely that we will be seeing more of these types of stores in other cities. Amazon already has three Amazon Go stores in Seattle and there’s a plan to roll out more locations in other cities. Amazon Go is a high-tech retail concept that allows customers to enjoy a cashier-less experience.
