I think Amazon will eventually open a big box store. They won't carry any inventory-- just one copy of each item. You scan the items you want and choose shipping to your home or next-day pickup at the store. With so many big box stores shutting down the real estate will be cheap. And with no inventory turnover there would be relatively no employee overhead. If walmart has 100k SKUs an Amazon storefront could offer 250k SKUs. It would be massively disruptive for items that are more difficult to browse/evaluate online (read: clothing).
Under current tax laws they would most likely only do this in states where they already have shipping centers (Nevada and ...?) because opening such a store would create a nexus, requiring them to collect use taxes on all of their online sales to the state where the store is located.
On the other hand, the problem of collecting those taxes when the customer ordered in the show-room is vastly easier than the burden they would face trying to collect taxes from online shoppers. Online, they would have to figure out where the order is from (not hard with browser location these days), and then have a way to figure all the taxes due from various types of transactions at any point on the map. With a show-room, they can pre-figure the rates for just the show-room locations like every other store does. It isn't a "have a solution for any arbitrary point on the map" problem anymore, thus is much more tractable and less expensive to solve.
Of course, the smart shopper then puts together a wishlist in the store, and clicks buy on their phone out in the parking lot.
Why does Amazon need to open retail stores? The stores where you can examine Amazon products already exist, they're just called Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, etc.
Because Amazon can't tell you went there (unless you use their iPhone app), and therefore there can't be a financial support passing from Amazon to the store. Of course, Amazon doesn't need to open its own Amazon-branded stores; they could just make an agreement with Best Buy or whoever. The key idea would be integration of the Amazon purchase system with the physical store.
The employees of those stores have very little training on the individual products they sale. I observed a Best Buy employee answer some questions about a Kindle Touch, which he didn't seem at all confident on. For example, he told them that he "thought" you could upgrade the With Offers model to remove the ads for an extra $30.
There have been some efforts by manufacturers to have product specialists in individual stores. It's never taken off on a large scale; I'm guessing the economics don't work. With cameras, at a store like B&H, you do see employees who are at least nominally more knowledgable about specific brands and won't, in fact, give you opinions between brands. And large photo stores often have days when manufacturers' reps are on hand to answer questions. Of course, this sort of model is far more the exception than the rule. Sales specialists are expensive and it's hard to justify them on low-margin consumer items.
I moved and haven't been down there in about 8 years now, but at the Home Depot I used to deal with, periodically a representative from DeWalt would stop in and do demos and answer questions about their tools.
Do you know if anybody has tried a showroom/ship model for those sorts of purchases at any scale?
I've wanted to see somebody try the model for a while, because without testing I have trouble guessing the balance between 'get to see things in person' and 'still have to wait a day or three for delivery' and I'd love to see the results.
Sears does this in some locations. They'll have a small storefront with a low amount of inventory. Some best-selling products and seasonal products sit on the floor/shelves to be seen, there are product specialists working in the store who know the catalog, and you order what you're looking for. The employee will answer your questions, then the item gets shipped to the store or to your home.
It's not a huge operation, but they do this in a lot of small towns across America, towns that can't support a full store but would still like the benefits of having a location to visit.
A lot of the focus of Sony's stores seemed to be on the showroom aspect though I haven't been in since the one in the Metreon in SF closed. And I imagine it worked better for Sony when they were better regarded as a style and technology trendsetter. In general, a consumer electronics manufacturer would be more presumably be more than happy to sell you something at the showroom--especially at full list price. There's no real reason not to. (If they discount they could get into conflicts with their distributors but that's not much of an issue so long as you're not discounting.)
I think the Danish furniture retailer Bolia works like that. They have showrooms you can visit but to actually purchase anything you go to the website, either when you get home or from a kiosk in the shop.
It seems like most shoppers want the immediate gratification of getting their stuff right away so I think it is hard to find the right mix of products.
