Amazons Shuts Down All Its Pop-Up Kiosks Nationwide
Amazon is shutting down all of its pop-up kiosks nationwide in a bid to re-strategize its growing retail operations and future expansion plans.
A spokesperson for the tech company spoke to the Wall Street Journal about the development, saying that the decision was drawn after much internal review had been done.
The pop-up kiosks – all 87 of them listed in more than 20 states – are often found in malls, showcasing Kindles, Fire Tablets and Echo speakers.
The standalone kiosks that usually take a few hundred square feet of space have also been known to operate in Kohl’s stores and Whole Food locations, with several pop-ups only months ago.
Amazon, together with Whole Foods – a chain it purchased back in 2017 – raked in over $17 Billion in revenue last year.
Last year, Amazon launched Amazon Go – its first cashier-less convenience store – equipped with motion sensors and cameras that track what shoppers purchase so that they won’t need to check out.
Before Christmas, it had also launched a gift store, tagged Amazon 4-Star, in SoHo New York. It was a shop that only sold top-rated items on its website. Prior to that, Amazon Books stores had been in full operation for several years, selling books and gadgets.
While industry experts were expecting the biggest online retailer in the world to ramp up more kiosks nationwide and in other countries, Amazon is streamlining another approach towards expanding its product offerings and larger physical stores.
The spokesperson for the online vendor disclosed that the focus will now be channeled towards expanding the Amazon 4-Star and Books store the company will be providing a more comprehensive customer experience and a wider selection of products than the kiosks.
While the kiosks are all slated to be out of commission at the end of April, the fate of other Amazon pop-up shops outside the US remains foggy.
Currently, Amazon stores are facing increased competition from Walmart and many other retailers combining both physical and e-retail shops.
