RWC2010: Amazon rules out stores and grocery offer

Mcbride said it made no sense for the etail giant’s model to open physical shops.

“We are not going to open stores. We like the internet and that that is where we are planning to stay.”

He added that Amazon’s brand simply does not need a bricks-and-mortar presence.

“We never spend a brass farthing on building our brand. We are never on a billboard or on the side of a bus.”

Despite that he points out that it has come second to Tesco in Kantar Worldpanel’s survey of customers’ favourite UK’s retailers.

No grocery offer

McBride also said he would not want to compete in the food market at the moment as the specialist players were so strong in that space in the UK.

“We are not out to dominate any market,” he said, adding that Amazon wanted to build a “virtual shopping mall”.

What he does want to continue to invest in is search and bringing traffic to the site.

McBride said he is also continuing to look at reducing shipping costs other countries rather than planning to expand into other countries where the set-up costs would be high and make no sense particularly in countries with smaller populations. He said it is the supermarkets more than the internet which have changed the shape of the high street.

“The high street has to define its purpose. Just being ‘me too’ on price won’t cut it,” he said.

He also said that online retailers should not take current momentum and growth in the market for granted and continue to innovate and invest in search and working with affiliates to drive traffic and continue growing.