????亞馬遜最近新開了一家實(shí)體書店，但這家互聯(lián)網(wǎng)巨頭是否真的移情別戀了？

????這家書店的名字簡潔直白，就叫“亞馬遜書店”，坐落于西雅圖的大學(xué)村。亞馬遜書店的副總裁珍妮弗·卡斯特在本周二的一份聲明中稱，這家書店是“亞馬遜的實(shí)體延伸”。她還表示，亞馬遜充分利用了過去20年間對消費(fèi)者品味的了解，為讀者營造了一種令人滿意的店內(nèi)購物體驗(yàn)。

????卡斯特在該聲明中表示：“我們店里的書是根據(jù)亞馬遜網(wǎng)站上的顧客評分、預(yù)購量、銷售量、好讀網(wǎng)上的受歡迎程度、以及我們的圖書管理員評價(jià)等因素進(jìn)行選擇的。這些都是非常好的書，大多數(shù)的評分都在4星或以上，許多還是獲獎作品。”

????亞馬遜書店的一些創(chuàng)意相當(dāng)新穎，比如每本書都附有一張?jiān)u價(jià)卡，上面標(biāo)注了亞馬遜網(wǎng)站用戶的評分和一段書評。不過行業(yè)專家們普遍認(rèn)為，比這家實(shí)體書店更有意思的，是亞馬遜想要達(dá)到的目標(biāo)——通過開設(shè)實(shí)體書店來促進(jìn)網(wǎng)絡(luò)銷售。

????消費(fèi)情報(bào)研究合伙公司合伙人約什·洛維茨認(rèn)為：“亞馬遜關(guān)注的重點(diǎn)在于刺激線上銷量。亞馬遜成功地發(fā)明了在線商店模式，并持續(xù)對其進(jìn)行完善。因此，作為一家頂級的在線零售商，不管亞馬遜在零售方面有任何動作，都應(yīng)該被視為該公司進(jìn)一步擴(kuò)大其領(lǐng)先優(yōu)勢的一種手段?！?/p>

????福雷斯特研究公司分析師蘇卡利塔·穆爾普魯·柯達(dá)利認(rèn)為，現(xiàn)在就斷言亞馬遜開設(shè)實(shí)體書店的真實(shí)目的還為時過早，但種種跡象表明，亞馬遜此舉似乎是為了對其網(wǎng)絡(luò)業(yè)務(wù)產(chǎn)生正面影響。

????柯達(dá)利表示：“實(shí)體書并不是一個增長領(lǐng)域，所以我認(rèn)為，他們對實(shí)體書店的銷量并沒有很高的期待。但通過開設(shè)實(shí)體書店，他們會了解到很多東西，比如消費(fèi)者是怎樣發(fā)現(xiàn)商品的，以及他們是否會上網(wǎng)下單等等，這些都屬于錦上添花。他們也會了解到實(shí)體書店能否推動顧客增加對亞馬遜的忠誠度，是否會讓他們更愿意在亞馬遜上花錢。這些都是很有意義的事情。”

????亞馬遜指出，這家實(shí)體書店里銷售的所有書籍（以及硬件產(chǎn)品）都可以按原價(jià)從網(wǎng)上購買。當(dāng)然，考慮到運(yùn)營實(shí)體店的各種額外開銷，按網(wǎng)購價(jià)銷售所有商品著實(shí)不易。就以巴諾書店為例，這家公司在全美原本有大約650家書店，但在過去7年里，它每年都要關(guān)掉20家左右。

????或許亞馬遜書店主要是想起到一個展廳的效果，吸引人們到實(shí)體店里了解亞馬遜及其商品，最終促使他們到網(wǎng)站上購買更多商品。

????洛維茨表示：“我們不知道亞馬遜是否真想通過實(shí)體店賺錢，但他們絕對是想通過實(shí)體店來提升品牌形象。除了賣書以外，亞馬遜的實(shí)體店還可以作為一個快速取貨點(diǎn)，有些顧客所住的公寓樓已經(jīng)不太愿意接受源源不斷的亞馬遜快遞包裹，一個快速取貨點(diǎn)可能會給這類顧客帶來方便?！?/p>

????就連亞馬遜書店的副總裁卡斯特，也并不害怕顧客兩手空空地走出書店，盡管她的任務(wù)就是吸引人們到店里來。實(shí)際上，她也向顧客熱情推薦在線購買這種替代方案。

????卡斯特在聲明里寫道：“你可以帶著一本書走出書店，也可以在網(wǎng)上購買以減輕負(fù)重（當(dāng)然，亞馬遜金牌用戶不用付運(yùn)費(fèi)），還可以在Kindle上買一本電子書，或者在你的亞馬遜愿望清單里添加一個產(chǎn)品，讓其他人幫你買。”

????亞馬遜開設(shè)實(shí)體書店以促進(jìn)線上銷量的做法，與其他開設(shè)實(shí)體店的科技巨頭形成了鮮明對比。比如，蘋果正在快速擴(kuò)張實(shí)體店，以期為消費(fèi)者提供另一個購買渠道。微軟正在跟隨蘋果的腳步，其紐約旗艦店已于上個月開業(yè)。

????洛維茨表示：“蘋果和微軟實(shí)體店主要通過面對面的方式銷售產(chǎn)品，宣傳品牌，其最終目的是促進(jìn)線上和其他零售渠道的銷量。但對亞馬遜來說，除了一些電子書閱讀器和平板電腦是在其他實(shí)體店里銷售的，亞馬遜最感興趣的還是通過自己的實(shí)體店促進(jìn)核心的線上業(yè)務(wù)。我們認(rèn)為任何一家亞馬遜實(shí)體店都將促進(jìn)這個目標(biāo)。”

????但目前我們還不知道，亞馬遜的“實(shí)體店經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)”究竟將產(chǎn)生何種效果，也不知道亞馬遜想把實(shí)體店當(dāng)成促進(jìn)線上銷量的一種手段，抑或真的想深耕線下市場。亞馬遜沒有回應(yīng)我們的評論請求，在亞馬遜下一次收益電話會議之前，我們也很難得到更多細(xì)節(jié)。但有一點(diǎn)是明確的，那就是如果這家西雅圖實(shí)體店實(shí)現(xiàn)了既定目標(biāo)（不管這些目標(biāo)是什么），亞馬遜就會開設(shè)更多店面。

????洛維茨表示：“我們完全有可能看到亞馬遜書店擴(kuò)展到美國各地，甚至擴(kuò)展到國外。雖然亞馬遜已經(jīng)非常龐大，但仍然有一些潛在客戶不熟悉亞馬遜。實(shí)體店不失為一種向他們介紹亞馬遜的好方法?！?span>（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：樸成奎

????審校：任文科

????Amazon AMZN -0.48% has launched a new brick-and-mortar bookstore, but did it actually leave its heart in the web?

????Dubbed Amazon Books, the new retail store is open at University Village in Seattle. In an announcement on Tuesday, Amazon Books vice president Jennifer Cast called the store “a physical extension of Amazon.com,” adding that the company has used the knowledge it’s gained over the last two decades about consumer tastes to create a desirable in-store shopping experience.

????“The books in our store are selected based on Amazon.com customer ratings, pre-orders, sales, popularity on Goodreads, and our curators’ assessments,” Cast wrote in the announcement. “These are fantastic books! Most have been rated 4 stars or above, and many are award winners.”

????The ideas brought forth in Amazon Books are novel—such as review cards for each title that feature an aggregate of Amazon.com user ratings and a critic’s review—but industry experts believe the store is more interesting in what it’s attempting to achieve: to drive online sales through a brick-and-mortar presence.

????“Amazon is laser focused on driving online sales,” says Josh Lowitz, partner at Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. “They effectively invented and have continued to perfect the model online store, so anything they do in retail should be seen as a way to further their lead as the premier online retailer.”

????Sucharita Mulpuru-Kodali, an analyst at Forrester Research, says it may be too early to know for sure what Amazon’s intentions are with its bookstore, but signs seem to point towards positively impacting its online presence.

????“Physical books aren’t a growing sector so I don’t think they have a high bar for the number of books they sell,” Mulpuru-Kodali says. “But they’ll learn a lot about how consumers discover products and if shoppers buy on the website, that’s icing on the cake. I’m sure they’ll also learn if a store makes a customer more loyal to Amazon or more likely to spend with Amazon. Those are really useful things to know.”

????Amazon noted that all of the books (and hardware) that it sells in-store will be available for the same price as online. Running a full brick-and-mortar store with online pricing is difficult, to say the least, given the extra overhead that goes with running a store. Barnes & Noble BKS 1.88% , for instance, has about 650 stores and has been closing approximately 20 locations per year over the last several years.

????Perhaps, then, Amazon Books is a type of showrooming, attempting to get people in-store to learn more about Amazon and the products it sells and eventually buy yet more products online.

????“We don’t know if Amazon is going to try to make money with physical stores, but they absolutely want to enhance the company’s brand with them,” says Lowitz. “Beyond books, Amazon stores could serve as quick order pick-up locations to accompany their accelerated delivery options, and help customers whose apartment buildings are balking at the constant flow of Amazon boxes in their receiving rooms.”

????Even Cast, who seems committed to getting people in-store, didn’t shy away from the possibility of customers coming to Amazon Books and leaving without a single product in-hand. Indeed, she offered online buying as a viable alternative for in-store customers.

????“Walk out of the store with a book; lighten your load and buy it online (Prime customers, of course, won’t pay for shipping); buy an eBook for your Kindle; or add a product to your Amazon Wish List, so someone else can buy it,” Cast wrote in the statement.

????If Amazon is trying to use Amazon Books for online engagement, it would stand in stark contrast to some of the other technology giants that have a presence in brick-and-mortar. Apple AAPL 1.03% , for instance, is rapidly expanding its retail footprint to provide another avenue for consumers to buy its products. Microsoft MSFT 1.71% , which opened its first flagship store in New York City last month, is following Apple’s lead.

????“Apple and Microsoft stores sell product in person and sell the brand for ultimate sales online and through other retailers,” Lowitz says. “With the exception of some e-readers and tablets sold at other stores, Amazon is most interested in driving sales through their core online business. We think that any Amazon store will advance that cause.”

????Still, it’s unclear how the economics of Amazon’s store works and whether the company is using it as a means to drive online sales or if Amazon truly wants to become an offline retail force. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment and details will likely remain scant until its next earnings call. What is clear, however, is that if the store achieves the e-commerce giant’s goals (whatever they may be), it’s entirely possible that more Amazon Books stores will crop up.

????“We could certainly see Amazon Books expanding across the U.S. and internationally,” Lowitz says. “As big as Amazon has grown, there are still potential customers who are not familiar with Amazon, and the front door of a physical store is a great way to introduce them to all that Amazon has to offer.”