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Monday, February 6, 2012

Amazon Adding a Retail Business

As Barnes and Noble tries to fight Amazon in the digital hallways, Amazon is fighting back by competing head on with a brick and mortar retail presence. "Quidsi, an online retailer Amazon acquired in 2010, opened its first retail store in Manhasset, New York, last year to sell expensive cosmetics and perfumes under the BeautyBar name.
Amazon also plans to open a physical store in its home town of Seattle in coming months to showcase and sell its growing line of gadgets, including the Kindle Fire tablet, industry blog Good E-Reader reported this weekend."

Despite the e-commerce push, retail still seems to matter and Amazon recognizes that stores count. B&N has a great physical presence, one that will take Amazon years to emulate; at the same time, B&N has to figure out how to evolve it into the next winning formula. It is what JC Penny is doing by taking Apple's retail guru to update its stores. B&N must do the same as well. Amazon recognizes that retail is a component of success.