100,000+ Sony Readers sold in UK?

rhadin · 09-10-2008, 01:55 PM

According to Sara Lloyd's blog at panmacmillan,

Quote:

Anecdotally, Waterstones store staff report a great deal of interest from customers, and the rumour mills (or well-planned leak??) put a 6 figure number on the Sony Readers sold by the morning of Thursday 4th September.

She also wrote:

Quote:

As I’m sure all of those working in the digital publishing departments of trade publishing houses will agree, it’s nice finally to have a major high street bookselling brand pitch itself into the ebook ring so wholeheartedly – and the Sony device is the most compelling (and competitively priced) there is of the dedicated devices so far available here in the UK. I must say it did make my heart leap just a little bit to see huge POS displays promoting the Sony Reader and the associated ebook catalogue from Waterstones in the Tottenham Court Road and Picadilly branches, and it was fun to go in and do some underground detective work to discover that the Waterstones staff seemed quite clued up about it all.

There has certainly been an uplift on direct sales of ebooks from our own web site over the weekend, although this may well have something to do with our our promotion of eight non-drm’d SF books which started last week.

Lloyd's The Digitalist blog is available here: http://thedigitalist.net/?p=220

Related: A UK publisher is happy with Waterstones ebook sales, Waterstones Ebook store to Launch midday 04/09/08

Argel · 09-10-2008, 04:54 PM

According to Waterstone's staff, each store was sent four readers plus the demo model - no doubt flagship stores had more. Waterstones have 330 stores according to Wikipedia. Sales through stores possibly 3000, or a wildly extravagant 5000. That means 95,000 through the website...

100K sales means roughly one in every 250 households in the UK bought one by the first morning of the launch. I don't think so. And if there really were 100K new ebook purchasers around I suspect that rather than experiencing 'uplift' her website would have exploded.

Prepared to eat my hat but I suspect a nought has been added to the sales figure somewhere along the line.

charlieperry · 09-10-2008, 09:08 PM

That does seem a lot to me. I'm sure that figures like that are achievable though.

FizzyWater · 09-10-2008, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Argel

And if there really were 100K new ebook purchasers around I suspect that rather than experiencing 'uplift' her website would have exploded.

Seems more likely the "6-figure" amount quoted referred to money collected, not number of readers.

stustaff · 09-11-2008, 05:19 AM

How many did they actually sell via the web though?

Argel · 09-11-2008, 05:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stustaff

How many did they actually sell via the web though?

Well if Fizzy is right and the 100K refers to revenue, then 100K/200 = 5000 sold. That would sound like a realistic start to me.

Flub · 09-11-2008, 05:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Argel

According to Waterstone's staff, each store was sent four readers plus the demo model - no doubt flagship stores had more. Waterstones have 330 stores according to Wikipedia. Sales through stores possibly 3000, or a wildly extravagant 5000. That means 95,000 through the website...

The Middlesbrough branch (Doubtful it's a flagship store) got 15 readers on launch day and sold them all.

stustaff · 09-11-2008, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Argel

Well if Fizzy is right and the 100K refers to revenue, then 100K/200 = 5000 sold. That would sound like a realistic start to me.

dont you mean 500?

oops

athlonkmf · 09-11-2008, 07:07 AM

Most probably they're not all from UK. I could imagine a lot of european want to get one from waterstone. As european guarantee is much easier than sending a defective one to america for repair.

babyd · 09-11-2008, 08:58 AM

sonystyle.co.uk told me they had in 5000 and all were sold on pre-order........I know my 2 local waterstones branches had around 8 and 14 and they all sold within 3 days.

nathantw · 09-11-2008, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhadin

According to Sara Lloyd's blog at panmacmillan,

Looking at the quote, what exactly does "POS" stand for? Is it what I thought it stood for?

CaptainIncognito · 09-11-2008, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nathantw

Looking at the quote, what exactly does "POS" stand for? Is it what I thought it stood for?

Point of Sale I would assume...

nathantw · 09-11-2008, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptainIncognito

Point of Sale I would assume...

AH!

Totally different than what I thought it was.

stustaff · 09-11-2008, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nathantw

AH!

Totally different than what I thought it was.

Piece of poo?

SilverBullit · 09-11-2008, 12:54 PM

Thats sooo not true! I heared from an inside contact at Waterstone that they only had 70 sony ereaders on pre-order.

Good marketing btw

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09-10-2008, 04:54 PM	#2
Argel Opinionated [but right] Posts: 276 Karma: 1412 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: UK Device: Cybook Gen3, PRS 505, Kindle International, HTC Desire	According to Waterstone's staff, each store was sent four readers plus the demo model - no doubt flagship stores had more. Waterstones have 330 stores according to Wikipedia. Sales through stores possibly 3000, or a wildly extravagant 5000. That means 95,000 through the website... 100K sales means roughly one in every 250 households in the UK bought one by the first morning of the launch. I don't think so. And if there really were 100K new ebook purchasers around I suspect that rather than experiencing 'uplift' her website would have exploded. Prepared to eat my hat but I suspect a nought has been added to the sales figure somewhere along the line.

09-10-2008, 09:08 PM	#3
charlieperry Connoisseur Posts: 89 Karma: 174 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Sydney Device: Sony PRS 505	That does seem a lot to me. I'm sure that figures like that are achievable though.

09-11-2008, 05:19 AM	#5
stustaff Wizard Posts: 1,055 Karma: 2110 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Derbyshire UK Device: sony reader PRS505 and 600	How many did they actually sell via the web though?

09-11-2008, 07:07 AM	#9
athlonkmf Guru Posts: 714 Karma: 1014039 Join Date: May 2007 Device: Sony PRS-500, Sony PRS-505, Kindle 3, Sony PRS350, iPad 64GB	Most probably they're not all from UK. I could imagine a lot of european want to get one from waterstone. As european guarantee is much easier than sending a defective one to america for repair.

09-11-2008, 08:58 AM	#10
babyd Addict Posts: 384 Karma: 1567 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: UK Device: Sony:505, 600, 350, 650, Kindle 3 & PW, Kobo Mini & Aura HD	sonystyle.co.uk told me they had in 5000 and all were sold on pre-order........I know my 2 local waterstones branches had around 8 and 14 and they all sold within 3 days.

09-11-2008, 12:54 PM	#15
SilverBullit Member Posts: 19 Karma: 40 Join Date: Aug 2008 Device: Bebook	Thats sooo not true! I heared from an inside contact at Waterstone that they only had 70 sony ereaders on pre-order. Good marketing btw

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