Scalper1 News
Amazon.com ( AMZN ) will open 300-400 bookstores in the coming years, according to Sandeep Mathrani, CEO of mall operator General Growth Properties ( GGP ) in an earnings call late Tuesday. While that may seem an odd choice for the e-commerce giant, which that has driven brick-and-mortar bookstores out of business, Amazon could be taking a page from Alibaba ( BABA ) and fellow Chinese Internet giants Baidu ( BIDU ) and JD.com ( JD ) as they invest heavily in online-to-offline channels. Amazon opened its first bookstore in Seattle last November. It also has permanent kiosks in many Westfield malls. The Seattle location promotes Amazon tech products, such as Kindle tablets and Fire TV streaming devices. A big bookstore-and-gadget store push would suggest that Amazon, which has long benefited from shoppers checking out goods at Barnes & Noble ( BKS ), Best Buy ( BBY ) or other locations before making purchases at Amazon, wants to become its own showroom. But Amazon likely sees the stores as being more than a showroom. While Amazon has made a huge push to ship faster — offering 1-hour deliveries in about 20 cities — the company still would like to be faster. The bookstores would let people make instant purchases, or pick up online buys. They also could serve as mini-distribution centers. Alibaba Leads China O2O Rush Online-to-offline, or O2O, retailing, already is a huge trend in China. Alibaba spent $4.6 billion last August for 20% of Suning, a major Chinese consumer electronics chain. Of the four largest Internet companies in China, Alibaba has been investing the most money in growth. The No. 1 provider of e-commerce services in China, Alibaba last year invested about $11 billion in acquisitions. This includes $4.63 billion for a 20% stake in Suning, one of the largest consumer-electronics retail chains in China. JD.com that same month invested $700 million in supermarket chain Yonghui Superstores for a 10% stake. JD.com has a strategic alliance with messaging and mobile giant Tencent ( TCEHY ), which owns a big stake in JD. Tencent and China search giant Baidu have teamed up with Dalian Wanda, a sprawling property and entertainment giant. Baidu has vowed to spend $3.2 billion on O2O over three years. These investments have curbed profit growth at Alibaba, Baidu and others. But that likely wouldn’t stop Amazon. CEO Jeff Bezos has always invested heavily to promote future growth. Q4 earnings growth failed to meet lofty Wall Street projections in large part because Amazon fulfillment costs leapt 33% to $4.55 billion. Amazon stock fell nearly 4% on the stock market Tuesday to its lowest close since Oct. 14, part of a 13% 3-day tumble since its Q4 earnings shortfall Thursday night. Amazon fell 3.3% Wednesday morning, undercutting its 200-day moving average for the first time in a year. Alibaba fell 4.6% intraday after losing 2.9% on Tuesday. Baidu lost 2% following Tuesday’s 3.9% retreat. JD.com sank 4% after Tuesday’s 3.6% fall. Tencent gave up 2.9% intraday after a 2% slide Tuesday. Scalper1 News
Scalper1 News