Bricks-and-mortar shops have had a tough time lately. Not only Sales in shopping centres in Europe biggest market but also sales in America have been decreasing. The shops that are faltering were in deeper difficulty even before the growth of Amazon. Macy’s, which is one of the largest department stores, said it would close 100 of its 728 shops in 2016. Fung Global Retail & Technology, which is a consultancy, predicts about 10,000 stores in America to close in 2017, about 50% more than at the point of the financial crisis in 2008 (The Economist, 2017). Furthermore, in 2016 Alibaba, the e-commerce giant in China even across the world, earned $18bn on “Singles Day”, November 11th, the significant amount ever spent in one day in the world. It …show more content…
It built 26 new fulfilment centres in 2006. Driving further growth of the number of sellers and parcels through Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is the main focus, and it will finance further warehouse and logistics capacity to hold that volume. The company also indicated to the complex and the costly last-mile delivery for its logistics network. To strengthen its ability to control the last-mile delivery, it launched Prime Now deliveries in 18 cities since 2016, which Prime customers can get items they ordered within one hour or two hours. In addition, it had succeeded first drone delivery test in the UK, and is now testing delivery through drone with selected customers in the country. These lead to more ways in Amazon to reduce costs and accelerate delivery times (Business Insider, …show more content…
It has invested assertively into online sales by software specialist, obtaining online retailers, and by deploying its large retail presence to deliver items faster. John Malindretos, Professor of Finance at William Paterson University, says “Both Walmart and Amazon look good and have the right strategy, which is crucial. Walmart is the superior low-cost seller in brick and mortar and Amazon online. Walmart, of course, is getting into online, and recently is doing extremely well. If I were to choose one of the two, it would be Walmart.” (Mourdoukoutas,