Wordplay (continued from page 6) Ironically, as Amazon searches for new worlds to conquer, it seems to be circling back to look at niches that it flattened on its way up. That would explain its foray into bookstores a couple of years ago, as well as this reported development of compact department stores. It may be ironic but it makes sense. In spite of the rapid growth of online shopping, especially over the past year-and-a-half, brick and mortar is still something like four times larger. When the pandemic is behind us, conventional retailers expect to regain some of the market share that they gave up to e-commerce, while holding on to the gains they made online. Amazon already has the lion’s share of online sales, so if the growth of e-commerce levels off the company is going to have a tough time maintaining its own growth rate. Walmart, on the other hand, is in position to grow both online and off. From what I can gather, Amazon became what it is today through a combination of three basic strengths: price, convenience and trust. It still has those strengths, but they are no longer such a distinction from everyone else. So who sells the most toys in the United States? I don’t know, but I know that, ultimately, it will be the company that best manages those three issues. The efforts of our two largest retailers to do so matter to all of us. The largest seller of toys in the world, by the way, is a Chinese company called Alibaba. It is about twice the size of Amazon.
You can e-mail Kevin at kfahy@fwpi.com.
8 October 2021 — edplay.com
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