Retailer Web Services Digital Advisor Fall 2017 | Page 8

COVER FEATURE
AMAZON IS COMING TO
FURNITURE AND
APPLIANCE RETAIL
6 Tips to Help Independent
Retailers Prepare
particularly, has grabbed recent
headlines.
“I
’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your
house in!” bellowed the infamous Big
Bad Wolf to each of the enterprising
Three Little Pigs. But as it turns
out, the wolf was unable to defeat the
pig that built his house from bricks. In
today’s digital age, the iconic fairy tale
would take an ironic twist: The pig that
built the brick house would still prevail,
but only if his online house was in order,
too.
Sound familiar?
The force of Amazon is, indeed, blowing
through brick-and-mortar retail. The
biggest names in the business are
reducing store counts and focusing
online, or in some cases, closing
altogether. And while the online house
that Jeff Bezos built has toppled
retail segments including apparel,
electronics, books and entertainment—
to name a few—the online retail giant
is set on expanding into durable home
goods. Amazon’s interest in furniture,
8
A May 12 Wall Street Journal article,
“Amazon Makes Major Push Into
Furniture,” noted that Amazon is building
at least four warehouses focused
specifically on handling bulky items.
Amazon has a history of looking to the
fastest-growing segments of US online
retail. According to Barclays, furniture
is second only to groceries in terms
of online growth, which in itself was a
foreshadowing of Amazon’s huge bid
for Whole Foods in June. Veenu Taneja,
furniture general manager at Amazon,
underscores their strategy in the
article, saying, “Furniture is one of the
fastest-growing retail categories here at
Amazon.”
Also in May, industry trade publication
Furniture Today reported on Amazon’s
interest in the furniture market, “Amazon
Building Furniture Warehouses,” adding
that a new collaboration with Ethan
Allen will establish a design studio on
Amazon.com. Senior Retail Editor Clint
Engel goes on to say that Amazon
representatives have been making the
rounds at durable goods conferences,
encouraging retailers to participate in
their marketplace by announcing the
elimination of their previous national
delivery requirement for furniture sellers.
Appliance and mattress retailers are
not immune from Amazon’s plans. In
March, the New York Times ran an article,
“Amazon’s Ambitions Unboxed: Stores
for Furniture, Appliances and More,” that
said Amazon is looking into opening
physical retail locations to sell furniture
and appliances. Amazon already has
eight physical Amazon Books stores,
one each in New Jersey, N