Dive Brief:
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Amazon is ever closer to becoming a brick-and-mortar retailer with its first staffed physical location at Purdue University, where customers can pick up orders and drop off returns. Many items are available for free one-day pickup through the Amazon@Purdue program or two-day pickup through Amazon’s Student or Prime memberships.
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The e-commerce giant is also beefing up its distribution centers near two universities nationwide, Perdue and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Both have co-branded websites through which students can order textbooks and other supplies.
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The schools get a cut of the sales that go through the sites.
Dive Insight:
The center at Purdue is not exactly a bookstore. But, as with its pop-up stores, Amazon’s Purdue location is edging the e-retailer closer to providing the customer service that can only happen at a store. These moves at Purdue and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (and, likely, more to come) also take on Barnes & Noble’s strong campus bookstore operations.