Amazon has announced it will shut all its bookshops in the US and UK - deciding instead to focus on Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market, its convenience concept called Amazon Go and its upcoming Amazon Style Stores. The online shopping giant will close its 68 bookshops - 66 of which are in the US, while the UK only has two.
The news comes as Amazon Prime Video was told it had fresh competition after ITV announced today it was launching a new streaming service called ITVX, reports Birmingham Live.
"We remain committed to building great, long-term physical retail experiences and technologies and we’re working closely with our affected employees to help them find new roles within Amazon," the company said in a statement.
Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, said: "They were designed for people to pop in and browse rather than as destinations where people would head on a mission to buy something. Ultimately, this wasn't great for driving footfall - especially in an era where people are visiting shops less."
Mr Saunders added that the other problem is the assortment which, in many locations, was disjointed and unfocused. Amazon opened its first brick-and-mortar bookstore in 2015, two decades after it began selling books online and helped drive a number of shops out of business.
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