How can Amazon sell a kindle that no one can touch, feel or experience? Since Amazon doesn’t have storefronts or isn’t in the retail distribution channel in any fashion, how will people determine if they want to shell out $399 for a player and then read most of their subsequent books and publications with it?

It appears that their sole initial strategy is to rely on early adopters and influencers touting the merits of the device (which, IMHO, is why so-called A-list bloggers were included in the launch). Since there is monetary incentive to see it adopted, having these influencers buy one (if they weren’t just given one) and either sing its praises or show it off to everyone else is undoubtedly a great way to build buzz.

I’ve been in many conversations recently about the supposed death of retail in a day of ecommerce, the now obvious wisdom of Apple rolling out their own stores, how Dell has begun a shift to a retail distribution strategy and that as devices and products become more complex — and thus require more initial education of the consumer before a purchase — that having physical locations where people can touch, feel or experience it is more important than ever before.

Or is it?

Retail is a push-pull for me. On the one hand, like most people I like to go into a store to actually play with a product before I buy it. On the other hand I understand how it’s a physical impossibility for stores — even the size of a Best Buy, Target or Walmart — to stock anything more than the 60-80% of the mainstream products people will buy which often makes ecommerce all that more attractive.

So how realistic is it that new concepts or paradigms will be launched and need to be sold at retail?  Are influencers and recommenders enough to launch a new product like Amazon’s kindle?

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