Earlier this week, Sandeep Mathrani, CEO of mall operator General Growth Properties may have let one of Amazon’s drones out of the bag during his company’s othwerwise routine conference call on February 2. When questioned about the general revenue possibilities of marketing to mall foot traffic, Mathrani said, “You’ve got Amazon opening brick-and-mortar bookstores and their goal is to open, as I understand, 300 to 400.”
Understandably, this simple sentence caught the attention of lots of folks, no doubt including Amazon, which tends to keep close guard on future plans. The next day, General Growth Properties came back with a reversal, of sorts.
“General Growth Properties, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sandeep Mathrani has indicated that a statement he made concerning Amazon during GGP’s earnings conference call held on February 2, 2016, was not intended to represent Amazon’s plans,” said the brief statement.
While Mathrani follow-up can be seen as an attempt at “walking back,” it’s certainly not a retraction or admission of innacuracy. And it’s not a stretch to think a large mall operator would have insight into Amazon’s brick-and-mortar plans.
Of course, Mathrani initial statement could be written off as simply self-serving. The notion that the nation’s dominant Internet retailer wants to open a chain of stores would boost the perception of shopping malls at a time when many of them are struggling to attract traffic. And the statement did come as part of a string of optimistic comments on Internet retailers investing in physical stores.
On the other hand, keep in mind that Amazon recently opened a full-service brick-and-mortar book store in Seattle. At the time, retail analysts such as Outcalt & Johnson, wondered out loud if Amazon will expand its brick-and-mortar strategy into other retal verticals and, if so, warned of the disruption that could bring.
There’s been no clarity as to how Mathrani came up with the 300 to 400 figure for Amazon’s store plans. But if it’s anywhere near 400, we’d guess they certainly won’t all be book stores.
