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Amazon.com has been expanding its physical retail presence in recent years, as exemplified by its acquisition of Whole Foods Market, its expansion of the Amazon Go cashierless grocery stores and its creation of the 4-Star store concept. But one would not see the extent of that growth from the company's latest annual report.
Indeed, investors were a bit confused to read in that report that the company’s physical-store square footage actually decreased by nearly 6 percent last year, from 21.3 million square feet in 2017 to 20.1 million square feet at the end of 2018, reports CNBC.
“In the past year, we've increased our physical retail footprint and the number of locations customers can shop”
The explanation: a change in the company's methodology of calculating store space.
"In 2018 we updated our methodology for reporting physical-store square footage to include only stores open to customers and [to] exclude stores under development," Amazon told CNBC. "In the past year, we've increased our physical retail footprint and the number of locations customers can shop, adding Amazon 4-Star, Amazon Go, Whole Foods Market stores and Amazon Books stores."
By Edmund Mander
Director, Editor-In-Chief/SCT
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