Amazon stops pop-up trials

Amazon is ending its trials with pop-up stores in the United States, closing all 87 such stores. They are no longer needed as the number of its book stores and 4-star stores continues to grow.

Pop-ups redundant

The American e-commerce giant has used pop-up stores for years to showcase its own products, like the smart speakers Echo. However, due to the rise of Amazon Go stores and the acquisition of supermarket chain Whole Foods, the use for the pop-up stores was dwindling. A spokesperson confirmed the plans to Reuters as a response to an article in business newspaper The Wall Street Journal.

“After much review, we came to the decision to discontinue our pop-up kiosk program, and are instead expanding Amazon Books and Amazon 4-star, where we provide a more comprehensive customer experience and broader selection”, the spokesperson said. The company already has a few dozen book stores and opened its first 4-star late last year in New York’s SoHo area. In such a store, only the highest rated products from Amazon’s catalogue are for sale: those with four stars (or more).