Amazon lands in reality and opens its first store in New York.

After twenty years of invasion of e-commerce, portal chooses one of the largest shopping district hinge Apple store for a "real" brick and glass. Retreat center as part of the orders, but soon it will be something more. Bezos is hated by the editors, but now relegated to a corner of the business books: his challenge now is to Walmart, but it is said that the victory is his.

NEW YORK - The literary agent Andrew Wylie had barely had time to call it "a trucker digital" in an interview with the Republic. And here is that Amazon wants to get rid of that "digital". Not only that, not only online: the Colossus of Jeff Bezos became deeply involved with the distribution per se, the traditional one. In the flesh, or more precisely in glass and brick. Amazon opened its first store on the road. In Manhattan, in the heart, as if to indicate that the model is to emulate Apple, whose AppleStore most visited by tourists in front of the Plaza Hotel, at the southeast corner of Central Park and Fifth Avenue. 

It took twenty years of patient invasion of e-commerce, Amazon before you decide to take this step. The shop will be on 34th Street, across from the Empire State Building, in a crowded area of department stores. The challenge is addressed directly to them, now it's up to Macy's shaking ... Although by the time this experiment starts quietly. The initial vocation of the Amazon store is to serve as a depot for goods already ordered online, a customer who does not want them delivered at home, does not have a concierge for deliveries in his absence, or prefer to withdraw itself from the pack, you can go to take it there. It also serves as a center for return of defective or unsatisfactory. And finally, as a deposit for the bellboys who make the deliveries. So a middle ground between the traditional stock of Amazon and a real shop. 

But you already know that Bezos has in mind an evolution. Soon the store will sell all the electronic gadgets, especially those that Kindle tablet are the "Trojan horse" in ebook reading; Amazon Fire and smartphones, so far - despite the bargain price - have had little success. The choice of location is very significant. The 34th Street has a "pedestrian traffic" high, consumers know that New York is a shopping Mecca, the tourists as well. Macy's on Herald Square is nearby and boasts 20 million visitors a year. 

It 'clear that this time Amazon is not content to open a center for the delivery of goods ordered onlie, such as those that already has spread across America, usually at great parking. You can say that Bezos throws the mask. Even though at Amazon had built his reputation by selling books, that has become a niche. The books have been used to intrude into the heads of consumers (a mid-high-end consumers, as are those who read), to study the habits and preferences, snatch addresses and credit cards. From the book, which now represents a modest 7% of its sales, Amazon has expanded gradually. 

It began with related products, such as CDs and DVDs. Then she started to sell everything from clothes and home furniture, office accessories, computers and printers, even fresh food. Make the news his wars against the publishers, but in the background the real war is launched against Walmart and other large retail giants. He has already created serious difficulties in some retail chains specializing in home appliances and electronics, such as Best Buy and Radio Shack. 

The question, however, concerns the penetration of the ancient craft of distribution "on the street" with shops of brick and glass. So far, the strength of Amazon was right in by-pass the burdens and costs of large retailers traditional. Its elasticity, flexibility and aggressiveness, it was all centered model "order online and receive at your house." Open sign in the center of New York is the first step in an ancient world in which Bezos is not necessarily the best player.