Walmart this week joined Target in no longer selling Kindles, the staple of Amazon's ebook empire. The business decision has little to do with ebooks, and a lot to do with Amazon's online Marketplace.
Amazon's Marketplace offers an array of merchandise ranging from electronics, to clothes, to kitchen appliances. Walmart and Target view Amazon's Marketplace as challenges to their brick-and-mortar stores as well as their online sales.
So Walmart and Target have taken the business offensive and banned Kindles from their stores and websites. Walmart, Target and other brick-and-mortar retailers are also pushing for federal legislation requiring internet sellers (read that Amazon) to collect state sales tax.
This business squabble follows the recent settlement of the ebook anti-trust litigation. It is something writers who market their books in ebook format (and that's everyone who writes, isn't it) should keep an eye on.
For more information, click here for Washington Post article: "Wal-mart drops Amazon Kindle products."
If Walmart and Target want to improve their sales, they need to take more lessons from Amazon rather than dropping their prices. Yes, I buy less from Walmart and Target and more from Amazon than I did just a couple of years ago, but it's due more to "lack of aggravation" factor than it is price. When I buy from Amazon I'm always charged the price quoted when the item goes into my cart--not so at Walmart and Target. In fact, I significantly reduced my Target shopping about a half-dozen years ago when I got sick and tired of having one or more things mis-priced on EVERY receipt, and to get my money back I ALWAYS had to go and stand in line at the customer service desk AFTER I'd checked out. Bargains aren't worth all that time and effort. And I always feel ripped off, even if I catch their mistakes, simply because if I don't put in the work to double check EVERY time, I don't get the prices I was told I would receive. There's probably a bait-and-switch subset involved there, but since Amazon doesn't play that game I keep buying there whenever I can. Getting a lower price just offsets having to wait several days for the product.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, I have a Kindle, but I didn't buy it at Walmart or Target anyway. I didn't even buy it at Amazon. I bought it at Staples. That's another company that can teach Walmart and Target a better way to do business.
Joanie