Omnichannel

Amazon once again takes the lead in disruptive news with reports it will open its first-ever physical store in New York City on West 34th Street, across from the Empire State Building and down the street from the iconic Macy’s flagship store. Even more than for its impressive location, the store is notable as the ultimate symbol of the continuing primacy of brick-and-mortar in the omnichannel environment.

 

Seattle -- Nordstrom on Friday opened the doors to its first store in Northeast Florida, at St. Johns Town Center in Jacksonville. "We're thrilled to open our first full-line store at such an outstanding mall as St. Johns Town Center," said Brandy Jefferson, Nordstrom St. Johns Town Center store manager.   

London - Online retailers provide delivery options shoppers don’t want, and don’t offer the ones they do. According to new research from software company OrderDynamics and Opinion Matters, more than half of online shoppers (54%) want a named delivery date, but only 15% of retailers currently offer it.  

Emeryville, Calif. – E-commerce technology provider Sellpoints has developed "Natural Selection," a natural language product selector. The solution uses the IBM Watson artificial intelligence platform to understand a shopper's intent, so instead of guiding shoppers through a series of complicated questions and checkboxes, Natural Selection allows them to type in phrases or questions in natural language.    

By Mike Moriarty, A.T. Kearney

Well, well, well. Amazon is opening a store.  Isn’t that nice!

Now, does that make the company an enormous on-line retailer with “a store”, or does it make Amazon a small to mid-sized retailer with an enormous online presence?

It almost doesn’t make any difference — and that in itself makes a difference. Welcome to planet Earth, Amazon!

Just in time for the holiday season, Amazon is going brick-and-mortar with its first-ever physical store, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The store, which will be located across from the Empire State Building in Midtown Manhattan, will serve as a mini-warehouse, with limited inventory for same-day delivery within New York City, product returns and exchanges and pickups of online orders, according to the report.