# Walmart Boots Kindles



## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Walmart joins Target.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/20/technology/walmart-kindle/index.html?source=cnn_bin


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## William G. Jones (Sep 6, 2011)

Great. All these years I've waited for my local Walmart to have something other than pictures of the Kindle on display, they finally have Kindles stocked and on display when I go in last week, and now the company is giving them the boot.


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## Me and My Kindle (Oct 20, 2010)

The Kindle is too classy for a Walmart, anyways.  

Amazon should have their own stores in shopping districts - like those fancy "Apple Stores" that you see sometimes in fancy neighborhoods...


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## booklover888 (May 20, 2012)

No wonder the Fire HD was not there when I looked yesterday.

Will Staples and Best Buy follow?


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

I just saw that too.. on nbcnews.com.   Sounds like they don't want to competition since the Fire allows internet access to more than just Walmart..    

"Consumers who buy Kindle tablets such as the new Kindle Fire HD can shop on the devices for more than just digital books, pushing Amazon into heightened competition with stores. "

Seems like a very illogical reason to me..   They will lose some customers and a lot of business.


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

My guess is that Amazon is such a retail powerhouse that they were not willing to give the local retailers a significant enough discount to be worth their while. The Kindle is established enough that not that many people need to "run across it" in a store. Just my guess.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Target's reasoning is that Amazon is a competitor to them, so they didn't want to carry their products.  I imagine Wal-mart's stance is the same, with the Fire browsing other sites bit just being an odd way to say that.

Retail stores are losing more and more business to online stores, with Amazon being the largest and most sucessful.  Carrying the Kindle is both supporting their competitor directly, and indirectly by helping advertising from having displays in the store.


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## Iron Fist (Jan 21, 2012)

Me and My Kindle said:


> The Kindle is too classy for a Walmart, anyways.
> 
> Amazon should have their own stores in shopping districts - like those fancy "Apple Stores" that you see sometimes in fancy neighborhoods...


Not sure if that would work for Amazon. Microsoft and Sony both opened stories like Apple but the traffic is nowhere near Apple's in-store traffic. Most of the times they are deserted although they, unlike Apple, offer more consumer products (like TVs, game consoles...)


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

At local up-scale shopping center, there's an Apple Store and one of the not-too-many Microsoft Stores in the country.  For a while when the Microsoft Store first opened, they sold Kindles.  Not any longer.  They should.  Microsoft has a lot more square footage compared to Apple Store.  Never see many peoples in there though.


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## kindlegrl81 (Jan 19, 2010)

I didn't realize you had to be a fancy neighborhood to get an Apple Store.  We have one in Boise Idaho and we are far from fancy or upscale


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## MKR (May 25, 2012)

kindlegrl81 said:


> I didn't realize you had to be a fancy neighborhood to get an Apple Store. We have one in Boise Idaho and we are far from fancy or upscale


Boise, Idaho has more than one Starbucks, so it qualifies as fancy.


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## Me and My Kindle (Oct 20, 2010)

I think the real problem is that Target sells _books_! Lots of 'em. They're one of the nation's biggest retailers of printed book, surprisingly. (According to this eye-opening article in the _Boston Review_...

http://www.bostonreview.net/BR35.6/roychoudhuri.php​
In fact, major publishing houses used to actually meet _with _people from Target to help decide which books they thought would be easiest to sell. Maybe Target just finally realized that once someone buys a Kindle, they'll stop buying printed books altogether!


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## sparklemotion (Jan 13, 2011)

Me and My Kindle said:


> I think the real problem is that Target sells _books_! Lots of 'em. They're one of the nation's biggest retailers of printed book, surprisingly. (According to this eye-opening article in the _Boston Review_...
> 
> http://www.bostonreview.net/BR35.6/roychoudhuri.php​
> In fact, major publishing houses used to actually meet _with _people from Target to help decide which books they thought would be easiest to sell. Maybe Target just finally realized that once someone buys a Kindle, they'll stop buying printed books altogether!


But Target sells the Nook? Interesting link though, thanks for that!


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

sparklemotion said:


> But Target sells the Nook? Interesting link though, thanks for that!


Yeah, when they dropped the Kindle they mentioned something about Amazon starting to carry clothes, and that they were too much of a direct competitor for them to carry and display their product.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

kindlegrl81 said:


> I didn't realize you had to be a fancy neighborhood to get an Apple Store. We have one in Boise Idaho and we are far from fancy or upscale


They do tend to be in the richer parts of cities. i.e. here in Atlanta the only one (I think) in the city is at Lenox Mall in Buckhead which is the richest area of town and is a pretty upscale mall (Nordstroms, lots of designer brand clothes etc). The rest are in the suburbs.

So they're not just in pricey cities like NYC, but they tend to be located in wealthy neighborhood areas in every city/suburb they're in. Which makes sense as you want your stores closest to your core market as possible.


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## kindlegrl81 (Jan 19, 2010)

mooshie78 said:


> They do tend to be in the richer parts of cities. i.e. here in Atlanta the only one (I think) in the city is at Lenox Mall in Buckhead which is the richest area of town and is a pretty upscale mall (Nordstroms, lots of designer brand clothes etc). The rest are in the suburbs.
> 
> So they're not just in pricey cities like NYC, but they tend to be located in wealth neighborhood areas in every city/suburb they're in. Which makes sense as you want your stores closest to your core market as possible.


Well it is in our mall. However our mall is right by lots of low income housing, three different behavioral health hospitals and the jail


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Walmart is known for asking for concessions from its suppliers.  I'm guessing that they asked for something from Amazon and Amazon said no...

Amazon doesn't really need Walmart and Walmart doesn't really need Amazon.  Too bad, though for the folks who were hoping to see Kindles in person...  Thankfully, Amazon's mail order service is great and the Kindles can be returned no questions asked.  

Betsy


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## Carolyn62 (Sep 5, 2011)

I will be getting my Kindle PW from Amazon. The electronics department in the walmarts I shop in have very poor customer service.


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## LuvHorses (Sep 11, 2012)

BestBuy still sells kindles


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

As do Radio Shack & Staples.


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## 3pointers (Jan 8, 2010)

Actually, Amazon does plan to open a retail store in Seattle.  They are currently building 3 hi-rise buildings downtown, so that's probably where they'll open it.  I'm sure if that is successful, we'll see more retail stores opening across the country.


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## scrivens (Sep 21, 2012)

As we live in the age of online shopping, I don't think it's such a big issue that we don't all have nearby stores from where to buy what we want.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Not to mention that people have a tendency to go into a bricks and mortar store, pick it up, play with it then order one online; that probably doesn't help.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

HappyGuy said:


> Not to mention that people have a tendency to go into a bricks and mortar store, pick it up, play with it then order one online; that probably doesn't help.


Yep, the NY Times article mentions exactly that as the reason why Wal-mart and Target stopped carrying the Kindle. Not wanting to support an online store as it's a big competitor with people using their stores as show rooms, checking prices at Amazon on their smartphones (Amazon has apps that scan barcodes and pull up the product page on Amazon.com) and buying online.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/business/wal-mart-stores-dropping-amazon-kindle-tablets-and-e-readers.html


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## gaidinsgirl (Feb 1, 2011)

All of the Kindles, Nooks, iPads etc at our Walmart are always dead anyway. All you can do is touch them, not try them out.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Interesting take on some likely reasons contributing to this decision: http://seekingalpha.com/article/879161-why-wal-mart-chose-the-nook-over-the-kindle.


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## Casper Parks (May 1, 2011)

At this point, it is difficult to predict who will come out on top of the market. Back in the 1970s, car stereos come to mind. Popularity at the time of great sound systems for cars, with brand names moving up and down in popularity. There are strong leaders in the market, Amazon has aided Indies and I hope that Indies will return the favor. 

With low prices for Amazon e-readers compared to production cost, they insure buyers will pick up the difference via products like music, books and movies. 

Market place will start having additional e-readers able to handle whatever format is thrown at it. 

Down the road will Amazon extend its e-readers open to other formats?


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## MLPMom (Nov 27, 2009)

kindlegrl81 said:


> Well it is in our mall. However our mall is right by lots of low income housing, three different behavioral health hospitals and the jail


Wow you are making that sound a lot worse than it really is. Boise is actually pretty big, maybe not Chicago or LA big but it holds its own.

Our mall isn't bad at all, yeah the location might not be the best neighborhood wise for homes but there are a lot of big retailers in it and near it.

As for the Apple store, I haven't ever been in it but that is just because I am not a supporter of Apple.

It is sad to see all these stores not carrying Kindles anymore but I can understand why too. They are competition and why support the enemy (so to speak).


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## kindlegrl81 (Jan 19, 2010)

Don't get me wrong, I have lived in Boise my whole life, I love it and have absolutely no plans of ever moving.  it is just not big, fancy or high income (especially the mall area) like other people where talking about Apple needing before putting in an Apple store.


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## larryb52 (Nov 18, 2009)

i don't see losing exposure in these stores a negative, amazon makes it easy to buy and try any product, kindle especially on a 30day with a no hastle return policy, they will do well no matter. As I have gotten older & with prime I buy most of my purchases from them & rarely have an issue. Walmart & Target are making the mistake while they maynbe cutting out a competitor so  to speak they also lose potential foot traffic & secondary sales they would of brought...


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

kindlegrl81 said:


> Don't get me wrong, I have lived in Boise my whole life, I love it and have absolutely no plans of ever moving. it is just not big, fancy or high income (especially the mall area) like other people where talking about Apple needing before putting in an Apple store.


People were just saying that Apple stores tend to be in the ritzy parts of cities, when possible. Apple isn't going to lose business by not coming to a city like Boise that apparently (from your posts) lacks ritzy areas.

But in bigger cities, with ritzy areas, they're going to put their store in the trendy mall with the Nordstroms, Neiman Marcus etc. rather than the crappy mall where the most upscale store is a J.C. Penney's.


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## Lee44 (Sep 9, 2012)

The article said that Amazon's second quarter revenues were 114 billion, I think they are going to be ok!


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

It was not so long ago that there were no kindles in any brick and mortar store.


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## William S. (Sep 25, 2012)

It's disappointing.  Fortunately, though, Kindle revolutionized the ereader market and will continue to thrive with or without Walmart.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

You would think they'd at least keep the eReaders. At their current price they can almost be an impulse buy.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

HappyGuy said:


> You would think they'd at least keep the eReaders. At their current price they can almost be an impulse buy.


That's probably part of it too. The profit margin is probably very low as I can't imagine Amazon is selling them to stores at much below the MSRP given that they're probably selling them at a loss as is.


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## MKR (May 25, 2012)

You'd think Wal-Mart would have the good sense to work with Amazon to sell a co-branded Kindle that attaches affiliate codes to books sold through the Kindle.


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## philstern (Mar 14, 2011)

I would imagine Amazon would rather sell Kindles through it's own website anyway. And isn't is easier to deal with warranty issues when you buy directly from Amazon?


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

philstern said:


> I would imagine Amazon would rather sell Kindles through it's own website anyway. And isn't is easier to deal with warranty issues when you buy directly from Amazon?


That doesn't matter since it's a 1 year manufacturer's warranty. Amazon CS will deal with it regardless of where you by the Kindle.

Same with other companies like Apple. Doesn't matter where you buy your iPhone/iPad/iPod/etc. if it breaks in the warranty period they'll fix or replace it.


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## Lee44 (Sep 9, 2012)

I read somewhere that Amazon was selling Kindles at somewhat of a loss to them, (I don't remember which one they were referring to, or if they were referring to them all), but like was mentioned above, the margins are probably so thin, that at the price Walmart probably wanted them, it just wasn't worth it.  

In addition, Amazon has such a large group of Kindle ebook buyers, not selling to Walmart must be just fine with them.


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## BenJ (Sep 19, 2012)

Kinda off topic but in the same vain. There is a google store near me and for the life of me I cant figure out its purpose since theres nothing inside for sale....


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

Local Office Max here now has a big e-reader, tablet, laptop display area.  Don't have Paperwhite yet though.  All kinds of covers and cases and accessories for them too.


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