While Amazon currently accounts for roughly 45% of all online retail sales, the pursuit of a strong offline retail presence is part of Amazon’s long-term business strategy which is why they may now be considering an acquisition of Target. Obviously, Amazon is strong in almost all categories of online shopping, but with The Whole Foods purchase and Amazon Go, this may be the beginning of their entry into a large presence in brick and mortar commerce.

Gene Muster, principal of research-driven Lotus Ventures, has good reasons to believe Amazon is ready to hit the streets and will be targeting a name brand retailer in 2018. Amazon’s goal is to reach more upscale consumers in order to continue both sales growth and new memberships in Amazon Prime. (Fortune)