Amazon to open pop-up bar in Japan

Amazon is opening a pop-up bar in Tokyo’s upscale Ginza district for 10 days, serving wine, whisky, beer and sake with an automated ordering system that will suggest drinks based on a customer’s preferences.

Starting from 20 October, the web retailer will be offering a range of drinks that are sold through Amazon in Japan and a few special drinks that are only available at the bar, reported CNBC.

This is the first time for the e-commerce company to operate an actual bar, wrote The Independent, as part of a larger effort to boost its online product sales with physical bricks and mortar stores.

The bar will feature an automated recommendation system that will suggest drinks based on consumer preferences. All the drinks are priced from 500 to 1,500 yen (US$4.43 to US$13.30).

“Amazon Bar will offer a wide variety of drinks procured from across the globe, and offer exclusive products as well as samples of products not yet on store shelves,” the company announced.

The company also launched a mobile app in Japan last year that give suggestions to drinkers by its in-house sommeliers.

Amazon bought US grocery chain Whole Foods earlier this year for a staggering US$13.7 billion. As well as food, the acquisition has given Amazon access to Whole Foods’ extensive beer and wine portfolio and with the online ordering service increasingly diversifying its delivery services to include food and drink, many have been moved to ask what impact it may have on online wine sales in future.