Amazon might open more pop-up stores to showcase the Echo

You might see more pop-up Amazon stores in malls over the next year. According to Business Insider, the tech titan is planning to open more of them, particularly to showcase its Echo speakers and other devices. While the company mostly operates online, it's been running 16 pop-up stores in the country. That number could reach over 30 by the end of the year, the report says, and could even go over a hundred by next year, as the e-retailer is reportedly putting up one almost every week across the US.

Amazon's pop-up stores are under the company's Devices team rather than its retail team, which is in charge of its bookstore in Seattle. That's the reason it focuses on showcasing the company's hardware products, like the Echo speakers, Kindles and Fire TV. Just because Amazon is expanding its physical presence doesn't mean it's focusing more on brick-and-mortar shops, though. Apparently, these pop-ups' goal is to show the company's devices to people, giving potential customers a chance to play with them for a bit, in order to drive up their sales online.

Earlier this year, there were rumors swirling around that the tech titan will open not just new bookstores, but also other types of retail shops. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos eventually confirmed that the company will build additional stores, though it's unclear at the moment if this pop-up expansion is part of those plans.