????亞馬遜最近新開了一家實體書店，但這家互聯網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“亞馬遜的實體延伸”。她還表示，亞馬遜充分利用了過去20年間對消費者品味的了解，為讀者營造了一種令人滿意的店內購物體驗。

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

????亞馬遜書店的一些創意相當新穎，比如每本書都附有一張評價卡，上面標注了亞馬遜網站用戶的評分和一段書評。不過行業專家們普遍認為，比這家實體書店更有意思的，是亞馬遜想要達到的目標——通過開設實體書店來促進網絡銷售。

????消費情報研究合伙公司合伙人約什·洛維茨認為：“亞馬遜關注的重點在于刺激線上銷量。亞馬遜成功地發明了在線商店模式，并持續對其進行完善。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，都應該被視為該公司進一步擴大其領先優勢的一種手段。”

????福雷斯特研究公司分析師蘇卡利塔·穆爾普魯·柯達利認為，現在就斷言亞馬遜開設實體書店的真實目的還為時過早，但種種跡象表明，亞馬遜此舉似乎是為了對其網絡業務產生正面影響。

????柯達利表示：“實體書并不是一個增長領域，所以我認為，他們對實體書店的銷量并沒有很高的期待。但通過開設實體書店，他們會了解到很多東西，比如消費者是怎樣發現商品的，以及他們是否會上網下單等等，這些都屬于錦上添花。他們也會了解到實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，這家實體書店里銷售的所有書籍（以及硬件產品）都可以按原價從網上購買。當然，考慮到運營實體店的各種額外開銷，按網購價銷售所有商品著實不易。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，吸引人們到實體店里了解亞馬遜及其商品，最終促使他們到網站上購買更多商品。

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

????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，盡管她的任務就是吸引人們到店里來。實際上，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，也可以在網上購買以減輕負重（當然，亞馬遜金牌用戶不用付運費），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品，讓其他人幫你買。”

????亞馬遜開設實體書店以促進線上銷量的做法，與其他開設實體店的科技巨頭形成了鮮明對比。比如，蘋果正在快速擴張實體店，以期為消費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。

????洛維茨表示：“蘋果和微軟實體店主要通過面對面的方式銷售產品，宣傳品牌，其最終目的是促進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體店里銷售的，亞馬遜最感興趣的還是通過自己的實體店促進核心的線上業務。我們認為任何一家亞馬遜實體店都將促進這個目標。”

????但目前我們還不知道，亞馬遜的“實體店經濟學”究竟將產生何種效果，也不知道亞馬遜想把實體店當成促進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節。但有一點是明確的，那就是如果這家西雅圖實體店實現了既定目標（不管這些目標是什么），亞馬遜就會開設更多店面。

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

????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.”