Amazon’s Detente With Offline Retail Is Over
The last few miles continue to be a problem for Amazon and its retinue of retailers, and since you can no longer get a package delivered to a local Staples or Radio Shack, there’s one less way to get your purchases. It’s a shame that this useful partnership never caught fire. Amazon may simply find new partners – maybe with Mailboxes Etc, or how about Starbucks – but for the consumer it’s another reason not to go into a bricks and mortar store.
Online retailers have not only changed the shopping landscape, they’ve also given back to the post office (and its competitors) much of what email has taken away. But for all that,the delivery end of online retailing hasn’t evolved as rapidly as was expected. We’ve been hearing for fifteen years about new package-friendly mailboxes, how apartment buildings would reconfigure their lobbies to support the growing flow of bulky mail. We occasionally hear of innovations (like the Williamsburg condo with a fridge for FreshDirect deliveries), but on the whole, unless you have a concierge, you may be inhibited in what you order online based on your ability to securely receive the delivery.
