Amazon Does Not Need Outlet Stores
A recent article brought up the topic of Amazon opening its own chain of outlet stores - mostly to deal with all the returns sitting in its own and third-party warehouses. Forever, traditional retailers have sold unsold marked-down inventory to off-price retailers for pennies on the dollar.
I don't think Amazon will do it. But if they did, here's how it might work.
Amazon likely only needs to sell-through 25%+ of any inventory to cover its costs, as long as it can operate the stores cheaply enough.
Amazon could justify the costs of these stores on the back of rural Amazon Prime membership signups alone.
Amazon could make the program self-funding. Start with tent sales; only establish physical retail when the payback is there.
You won't see them in any urban areas. Only rural ones where you might see outlet stores today.
I don't think you would see hundreds of these. It would be a targeted initiative to solve a particular problem. Big bets particularly to solve a problem "no one cares about."
Likely this is competing with other ideas internally at Amazon designed to raise its corporate standing - like finding willing takers of the merchandise somewhere around the world.
School kids, who need returned Amazon Echo alarm clocks?
