What An Amazon Purchase Of MGM Means For Other Retailers

What An Amazon Purchase Of MGM Means For Other Retailers

With the news that Amazon AMZN is reportedly finalizing a deal to buy MGM, you may be asking yourself, why would a retailer buy a movie studio? It may sound crazy but this is where retail has been headed for a long time and this is not the end of it. In fact, this is still the beginning. In a word, the answer is "content." Yes, Amazon runs a streaming service so it needs more movies and TV shows for its Prime Video consumers. But what is driving the connection between content and retail is much bigger than Prime Video, bigger than MGM, even bigger than Amazon. It has to do with how content shown on social media will change in the future. An Amazon/MGM deal is a model of how content relates to retail, giving entertainment value to its retail subscribers. But the other ways, only now beginning, will enable other retailers to connect their content to retail too. That will help them generate revenue and keep their customers close, just as Prime video does for Amazon today. What used to motivate consumers is status. Driving the fanciest car or having the highest-end logo on a sweater was motivating