Posted on 09/20/2012 11:02:07 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Wal-Mart is reportedly planning to stop sales of Amazon Kindle products in its stores, Reuters reported, apart from its existing inventory and pending orders.
According to Reuters, the decision was outlined in a memo obtained by the wire service that said the change is in line with the company’s merchandising strategy. It follows a similar decision from retailer Target, which announced in May that it would no longer sell Kindle devices.
~snip~
While Wal-Mart is the world’s largest retailer, it competes fiercely with Amazon, which is ambitiously expanding the number of goods and services that it delivers straight to its customers — often through devices such as the Kindle e-reader and the Kindle Fire tablet. Amazon could not be immediately reached for comment.
Retailers have been particularly critical of the online marketplace and its contribution to the trend of “showrooming.” They complain that customers often come into their brick-and-mortar stores to see or try out products that they’re interested in buying, only to leave and purchase the goods online, where prices often do not include sales taxes.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
And as far as sales taxes? California just started charging sales tax. Texas began a few months ago. Many states are getting on this gravy train.
I suspect Amazon is not willing to sell Wal-Mart the Kindle for the bulk price Wal-Mart is willing to buy them for. And that makes all the difference here.
Booksellers tell me that people come into their stores, see a book they like, and right there order from Amazon.
Time to consider a cover charge for entering bookstores...
As a side note, the Kindle Touch is freakin’ awesome.
My nearest Walmart displays its Kindle offerings by showing a framed black-and-white print of a cell-phoneish photo of a Kindle displaying a “the battery is dead, please recharge” message. I’d say it’s a fluke but that goes for several models of Kindle.
Someone’s not taking product promotion seriously. No surprise it will be dumped.
With the sales tax now applied to onlne sales, customers now have to pay the tax plus the shipping and have to wait for the item to be delivered, which puts Internet sellers at a disadvantage.
California has always expected the internet buyer to pay "use" tax for items that were not assessed tax by the internet seller. What has happened now is that Amazon will assess the tax and probably raise prices to everyone for the overhead this extra "service" entails. CA sales taxes vary with different state, county and city rates. It requires regular maintenance of the tax rate database to correctly calculate the value, then the additional overhead of forwarding the tax collected to the Franchise Tax Board in CA. We all lose as a consequence of caving in to the CA demands.
I can’t imagine showrooming in a book store. Best Buy, of course. Anything electronic come from Newegg. Boots, camping stuff comes from Campmor.
In other news...
Walmart has announced the introduction of its own Kindle-like device.
It will be called the WalPad and will be available by Christmas at the introductory price of $7.88.
I miss those coupons. I buy a lot of books so I saved hundreds of dollars a year with them. Now I buy most of my books via Amazon Prime or eBay.
It's not that hard. A new book appears on the shelf at the book store. Cool. Thumb through it and decide whether it's a keeper or not interested. Need it now? Go to the checkout counter. Want it, but can wait...compare Amazon. If Amazon has a better price, add it to the "wish list". Really want it now, but the list price at the bookstore is awful compared to Amazon's discount...buy from Amazon on your smart phone. It really comes down to urgency and affordability. Sometimes I just "wish list" the title, then buy an e-book instead of the paper. The e-book is lighter, faster to acquire, has free updates for errata and I use my home address in Idaho for the purchase...even if I'm standing in San Diego. My Idaho "use tax" is 6%. Lower than CA "sales" tax.
Amazon is opening two huge distribution centers South of Richmond, VA. I’m told their long term goal is next-day delivery for the major portion of their markets and SAME-day delivery if you’re willing to pay a small fee. If there’s a substantial difference in price I expect folks will go to Amazon.
And it comes with pajama pants and house-shoes.. (so you can feel like you are actually at Wal mart)
I have a Touch. I have read more books in the past 5 months than during any other 12 months in my life. I get free $25 Amazon gift cards thru my bank, and I simply download on free wifi and I’m on my way. I love Kindle.
Target was mad not just because Amazon sold similar products on their website, but because Amazon has apps that they were running commercials for showing people HOW to “showroom”.
Can’t blame Walmart and Target for this one.
Probably a little off-topic, but what do you all think of the new, bigger Kindle Fire? Especially vs. iPad?
Additionally, I got the Kindle to read, not surf the web. I do plenty of that. So I didn't want the temptation of other games and such. Just wanted to read.
I have heard nothing but good things about the Fire, however. But in all honesty, I'm a Mac guy. If I was in the market for a tablet, iPad would be my first choice. I would look at the Fire though.
If it arrives damaged, then there's more hassle. No thanks, I'd rather go to a brick and mortar and hold the actual product.
I've been a loyal Newegg customer since they started, however lately Amazon is giving them a run for their money even on computer parts and electronics. Last week my faithful Canon MP830 AIO printer died and I needed a replacement ASAP.
Newegg and Amazon were priced comparably, but with Amazon Prime I ordered a Canon MX892 at 9:00pm on Thursday evening and with their $3.99 Prime overnight shipping it was delivered at 11:00am Friday morning. No one else can touch that level of service.
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