Trillion-dollar tech giant Amazon was looking into opening its own chain of discount retail stories before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the company to abandon the plans.
According to Bloomberg, sources close to Amazon claim the retail outlets would have sold unused inventory which had been sitting in warehouses at incredible discounts.
Amazon had considered opening permanent locations as well as pop-up stores in shopping centres and parking lots, the source added.
The plans were in the preliminary stages, but the pandemic left the idea dead in the water as the company was forced to focus on day-to-day operations and its new Fresh grocery chain.
“It’s a way to be able to clean out warehouses, and get through inventory without having to destroy it,” said one of the sources, who remained anonymous.
“It is keeping with the value proposition of Amazon, keeping price at the forefront and allowing customers to get access to products at low cost.”
Amazon has been working on expanding its existing portfolio of physical retail operations over the last several years, starting with a chain of bookstores which opened in the US in 2015.
It also opened Amazon Go, a cashier-less convenience store which uses sensors to track what shoppers remove from the shelves, in 2018.
Amazon Fresh grocery stores started opening at locations around the US in 2020 too.
The Jeff Bezos-owned company operates 96 physical stores and seven mall pop-ups under its Amazon brand.
