Amazon Books

2022: Store closures

In early March 2022, Amazon announced that the company was closing all of its physical Amazon Books bookstores, as well as Amazon 4-star and Amazon Pop Up offline points of sale, which sold various electronics and other products. According to representatives of the retailer, the closure will affect 68 stores in the USA and the UK, but declined to say how many employees will be affected by the closure of stores.

The exact dates of store closures depend on the specific location, and Amazon said it would help affected employees find work in other divisions of the company. Employees who decide not to stay will be offered severance payments, the company said. The division of physical stores as of March 2022 is supervised by Dilip Kumar.

Amazon closed all bookstores and electronics stores

Amazon has gradually launched a number of stores, ranging from supermarkets to retail stores offering branded electronics such as tablets and smart speakers. Amazon 4-star stores, in particular, tried to combine Amazon's retail and offline activities, putting out the best-selling products in their online store. However, the growth of sales of the physical store division is noticeably behind the overall retail business of the company.

Amazon is shrinking its physical retail presence after the company reached its lowest full-quarter growth rate since 2001. In 2022, the company's shares fell by more than 8%, and in 2021 they were the worst in the group among large technology companies. An Amazon spokesman said the company remains committed to creating long-term physical retail concepts and technologies, citing Style stores launched.

Amazon is also developing other experimental retail technologies, such as Amazon One, which allows users to scan their palm to pay for goods, and the Dash Carts shopping cart, which allows customers to leave the store without a cashier.^[1]

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