Amazon’s move into retail meatspace has largely hinged around opening (or acquiring) brick-and-mortar stores. But this holiday, the online retailer will reportedly try something different: printed catalogs.
As in, a massive, holiday-themed catalog dedicated entirely to toys—to conveniently fill the void left behind by the recently shuttered Toys ‘R Us chain in the United States.
Bloomberg, citing “people who asked not to be named,” reported on Wednesday that Amazon’s toy-specific catalog will be mailed to “millions” of Amazon shoppers’ homes and will also be given away for free at Whole Foods locations. While the report compared this catalog to similar holiday toy catalogs from Toys ‘R Us, Target, and other big-box retailers, it did not confirm whether Amazon’s planned book will be as big as those 100-plus-page catalogs. The report also didn’t clarify if or how the book will include price information, since the site hinges so largely on dynamic pricing and Prime-exclusive deals.
This news follows Bloomberg’s prior reports that Amazon had “considered” buying various Toys ‘R Us physical locations, though that March plan revolved less around a new Amazon toy chain and more around selling general Amazon products.
In the meantime, Amazon’s other burgeoning meatspace enterprise, its no-checkout Amazon Go grocery chain, finally had its second location spotted… thanks to an accidentally open window. Geekwire had the scoop on Tuesday by noticing an Amazon Go sign through a second-story window near Amazon’s downtown Seattle offices. The retailer then publicly confirmed that the second Amazon Go shop would open in “fall 2018.”
While the first Amazon Go shop opened on the ground level of an official Amazon office building, this second location will just be part of a generic mixed-used building, which may point to the company’s confidence that the shopping concept is ready for wider rollout.