Amazon Is Returning to Physical Retail (Again)!

Although some of Amazon’s earlier ventures have been consigned to history, Jeff Bezos’s passion for experimentation has never wavered.

The new concept Amazon plans to launch near Chicago signals a radical change of course in the tech giant’s physical retail strategy. Planned for the site of a former restaurant right next to a Costco in the Chicago suburb of Orland Park, this giant facility is poised to become Amazon’s most comprehensive physical retail experience to date.

Amazon’s Big Comeback: The Orland Park Project

Amazon is now taking on Walmart and Target’s “everything under one roof” model head-on in the US.

Spanning roughly 21,000 square meters, the store will sit on a massive plot of about 35 acres (140 decares). It will carry not only groceries but also household goods and prepared food. Unlike other giant stores of this kind, it will also have a pickup point for online orders.

The investment reflects Amazon’s effort to combine its e-commerce muscle in “speed and data” with physical retail’s advantage of “touch and immediacy.”

So what’s in store for customer experience?

Amazon’s greatest strength is its incredible wealth of data and data-processing power. In a physical store, too, it knows perfectly well which products to offer and at what price. And it will put that to full use with its staggering personalization capabilities.

Considering there are an estimated 200 million Prime members in the US alone, its potential to communicate with them directly and personalize their experience is enormous. Now it wants the in-store share of wallet all to itself, just as it does online.

Of course, we also wouldn’t be surprised to see options for in-store pickup within hours instead of 1- and 2-day delivery. Factor in returns, and there will be an opportunity for significant logistics savings, but customers are sure to enjoy the improved experience, too.

I imagine Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, which eliminates the checkout line, and its Amazon Go stores are still fresh in everyone’s mind. Even though the Amazon Go stores closed, Amazon kept investing in the technology, and it remains in use through third-party partnerships. I fully expect Amazon to give checkout its own distinctly Amazon treatment here, too, and to set the experience apart.

I’m also eager to see the endless ways Amazon could combine its relentless investment in AI and AI-powered products with its physical store.

We’ll see: Will Amazon’s biggest physical retail venture yet remain an experiment, or will it unlock its huge potential and become a brand-new retail experience — and its competitors’ worst nightmare?