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Amazon has announced that it will be providing pickup lockers at the Coachella music festival this year during both of its weekends, April 12-14 and April 19-21. The lockers, which are currently in over 900 US cities and give consumers an alternative pickup point, will be located on the festival grounds to make picking up orders like phone chargers and fans as convenient as possible.
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Orders can be placed in advance of the festival or during it with same-day delivery, and customers will receive a barcode via email that’ll allow them to retrieve their purchases.
Amazon will also create a curated storefront for Coachella. The storefront will be available in the weeks preceding the event and will feature necessities as well as “festival-inspired products.”
This can help facilitate purchases for Amazon Lockers because it should have all the products consumers are looking for in one place. Additionally, it can drive sales by showing festivalgoers products they forgot or hadn’t considered.
Working with Coachella could be a precursor to Amazon bringing lockers to more events and other locales, and the strategy has two key benefits.
- It boosts exposure for Amazon Lockers. Even if most festivalgoers don’t take advantage of the lockers, they’ll likely be made aware of them at the event and via marketing communications. These consumers, and those who use the lockers at Coachella, may be more interested in the lockers for future orders in their everyday lives. This would help Amazon popularize a fulfillment method that allows it to save on last-mile delivery costs and potentially offer faster delivery speeds, which would help its performance in the years to come. And if Amazon brings lockers to more events, this outcome may be more likely.
- Offering lockers and curated storefronts for more events helps Amazon expand the reach of its retail empire. Amazon dominates US e-commerce in general, but by providing lockers and curated shopping experiences for different events and venues, it can reach consumers in new channels for new reasons, potentially driving loyalty and sales. In addition to lockers and custom storefronts, Amazon is reportedly interested in opening its cashierless Amazon Go stores at airports, which serves as another example of the company trying to sell to customers in new environments. If Amazon can become present in all types of retail and channels, it should be able to grow its retail business further, something it may be interested in since other segments have been driving its growth lately.
See Also:
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- Whole Foods is raising prices on some items and discontinuing others as it gets ravaged by rising costs
- Toys “R” Us wants to make a comeback
Source: Business Insider – dkeyes@businessinsider.com (Daniel Keyes)