What Competitors Are Missing About Amazon’s New 4-Star Retail Concept

Amazon 4-Star, Amazon’s latest brick and mortar retail concept, opened in the SOHO neighborhood of New York City last week, behind the premise that the assortment of merchandise available in the store is rated 4-star or higher, curated by customers, a top seller or is new and trending on Amazon. This model is upending competitors’ ideas about assortment, social proof in-store, and new discovery experiences. Amazon calls it a store “inspired by our customers.” The surprise store opening comes on the heels of Amazon expanding its Amazon-Go convenience store format to Chicago, and a Bloomberg report that Amazon may plan to open as many as 3000 Amazon Go stores by 2021. With Amazon about to hit the accelerator on the convenience store format, featuring a technologically advanced cashierless checkout experience, it’s easy to write off Amazon 4-Star as a novelty, but doing so would be a big mistake, per a particular brand of cognitive bias. Read more at Forbes.