Does Amazon must handle the design?
The seductive promise of a seamless shopping experience has helped it become the world's largest retailer without the need for a nice branded experience. As it joins the physical retail world, has Amazon moved beyond the need to worry about "good" design or aesthetics?
In 2020, Amazon opened its first physical store in the UK with a completely till-free Amazon Fresh store in London. Since then, several more have opened, all of which swap the cash registers for a QR code that shoppers use to check in at the entrance. The stores are classic Amazon dishes – understated design offset by the extreme convenience we all associate with the retail giant. According to news reports, the company is hoping to open at least 30 of these across the UK, building on a number of stores it has already opened in the US. With all the talk about how retail as a theater will save high street, it's remarkable that the company has gone in the opposite direction.
In many ways, Amazon is an uncomfortable reality. Most of us know stories of their work practices and low tax burdens, but don't seem to detach themselves from their seductive retail offerings – which promise a speed and ease other brands find difficult to compete with. For those in the creative industry, there may be something unsettling about a company that – aside from its Turner Duckworth-designed logo – has achieved wild success with such an apparent lack of interest in what many of us refer to as "good" design would. The Amazon website is arguably a pretty ugly, sprawling digital presence that is often difficult to navigate and does very little aesthetically. No wonder the brand's physical stores also rank high in terms of convenience and use of technology.
For George Gottl, chief creative officer and co-founder of Uxus, who has run retail projects for brands like Clinique, Wrangler, and Jaeger, Amazon's decision to move into physical stores is very calculated. In addition to the obvious ways of collecting data about customers, Gottl believes that the positioning of brands is important. He describes physical space as "the next battlefield for digital-first companies".