News of Amazon’s physical bookstores created shockwaves through the book and publishing industries; from the first whispers of the ideas to the actual ribbon cutting of the locations, just the thought of them has sent ripples to all of Amazon’s competitors. Aside from just existing however, the brick and mortar stores haven’t actually justified the big splash of their initial announcement.
What’s more, with Amazon releasing their first earnings report for their physical locations, they’ve shown that these heavily-buzzed-about bookstores actually have not made much money after all.
Amazon doesn’t seem to be too dismayed over these numbers, which leads more credence to the theory that the goal of these bookstores is to expand Amazon’s branding and pushing more and more people into joining Amazon Prime.
In fact, these stores don’t seem to be much use unless you are an Amazon Prime member. Members get discounts on the small inventory of books the stores carry while nonmembers have to pay the full list price, the same as any other store.
Read more about Amazon and their bookstores at the Business Insider.