Nearly a third of shoppers polled by Live & Breathe want Amazon to start opening physical shops. So how should retailers with physical stores respond?
Many retailers with physical stores have responded to the threat of Amazon by investing heavily in eCommerce. Some have been very successful in gaining new business online but the capital to invest had to come from other parts of the business. In many cases this has been from reducing in-store staffing levels and investments in core day to day operations in stores. Reducing investment in core activities in stores at a time when Amazon are considering opening physical stores is definitely risky. The big differentiation that retailers have over Amazon at this time is their stores and that differentiation needs to be defended.