Touch Kobo Touch Hits New Zealand!

[HarleyB]

Yes I paid AUD$128 for mine (including delivery) and got a US$10 Kobo store credit as well which brought the effective total below $120.
If the Touch ever becomes available in Australia (which seems like a big IF at the moment!) I wonder how they will price it?
Certainly the new Sony is looking very attractive...

[molman]

Originally Posted by HarleyB

Yes I paid AUD$128 for mine (including delivery) and got a US$10 Kobo store credit as well which brought the effective total below $120.
If the Touch ever becomes available in Australia (which seems like a big IF at the moment!) I wonder how they will price it?
Certainly the new Sony is looking very attractive...

Weren't the rumours ~AU$160-170?

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by molman

Weren't the rumours ~AU$160-170?

That is what I thought it was going to be too. Trouble I see is if it comes to Australia there won't be many store fronts selling them, and given the price of the kindle if someone wanted an ereader they could pay 159 from any woolies or dick smith and walk out with it on the spot, or pay 160 - 170 plus shipping for a kobo, wait 3-5 days for it to be delivered at home by courier, for a reader that they haven't seen before.

I'm not saying the kobo is a poor reader but the retail price of the kindle now in Australia combined with the instant gratification of having it on the spot, well I now see it being tough for kobo. Shame red group went under because they had enough retail outlets to compete. But the longer it takes to come to Australia the harder it will be to make a good market share.

Kobo would really have benefited from negotiating with more than just Collins and Borders/A&R to sell the Touch. Imagine if somewhere like JB carried the Kobo. All JB carries is the old iRiver Story. For $300. Having the Kobo would actually mean they'd have a good e-reader at a price people would actually be wanting to pay for, and it would get the Kobo brand everywhere in Australian metro areas.

[molman]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

That is what I thought it was going to be too. Trouble I see is if it comes to Australia there won't be many store fronts selling them, and given the price of the kindle if someone wanted an ereader they could pay 159 from any woolies or dick smith and walk out with it on the spot, or pay 160 - 170 plus shipping for a kobo, wait 3-5 days for it to be delivered at home by courier, for a reader that they haven't seen before.

I'm not saying the kobo is a poor reader but the retail price of the kindle now in Australia combined with the instant gratification of having it on the spot, well I now see it being tough for kobo. Shame red group went under because they had enough retail outlets to compete. But the longer it takes to come to Australia the harder it will be to make a good market share.

Don't disagree. Was a lot of power in having those Kobo's (and SONY's) at the front of every Borders. Considering that Dymocks is the only really significant bookstore chain left there arn't many options in the BnM environment in AU unless to they go into some general retailer which has pro's and con's.

[HarleyB]

Originally Posted by cyvros

Kobo would really have benefited from negotiating with more than just Collins and Borders/A&R to sell the Touch. Imagine if somewhere like JB carried the Kobo. All JB carries is the old iRiver Story. For $300. Having the Kobo would actually mean they'd have a good e-reader at a price people would actually be wanting to pay for, and it would get the Kobo brand everywhere in Australian metro areas.

Exactly! I have never seen a Collins books store which appears to be predominately based in Victoria. There are only 7 stores in regional Queensland and none in Brisbane. NSW is not much better with only 8 in the state - but at least they have ONE store in Sydney. So for 2 of Australia's biggest cites with a combined population of over 5 million people (almost a quarter of the country's population) there is one store.

If Kobo wants to actually sell their product they need to have it available for people to buy.

To me it seems like the negotiations were done somewhere in Canada by a person who doesn't even know where Australia is - let alone what the retail scene is like.

If Woolies are not interested as they now have the Kindle Kobo really needs to start talking to Coles/Target/K Mart and JB Hifi.

Originally Posted by HarleyB

Exactly! I have never seen a Collins books store which appears to be predominately based in Victoria. There are only 7 stores in regional Queensland and none in Brisbane. NSW is not much better with only 8 in the state - but at least they have ONE store in Sydney. So for 2 of Australia's biggest cites with a combined population of over 5 million people (almost a quarter of the country's population) there is one store.

If Kobo wants to actually sell their product they need to have it available for people to buy.

To me it seems like the negotiations were done somewhere in Canada by a person who doesn't even know where Australia is - let alone what the retail scene is like.

If Woolies are not interested as they now have the Kindle Kobo really needs to start talking to Coles/Target/K Mart and JB Hifi.

There isn't actually a Collins in Melbourne's CBD, either - their outlet is Hill of Content, which, even though it's part of Collins, has its own separate website. Collins used to have a larger presence in the city, but this was back in the days when, amongst other things, Borders and A&R were around.

As for who did the negotiations, that wouldn't surprise me all that much. From what I've heard of other companies branching out into new markets, they tend not to do enough research on what the retail scene is like. They were onto a good thing with Borders and A&R, but then seemingly did nothing all throughout REDgroup's fall.

[molman]

Originally Posted by HarleyB

If Woolies are not interested as they now have the Kindle Kobo really needs to start talking to Coles/Target/K Mart and JB Hifi.

The thing I struggle with, with the big chain stores is that product knowledge often sucks, as does product presentation. I think I'd go JB HIFI over the Coles chains having had much better buying experience there.

The other thing I would do if I was them is offer the Kobo for sale in the independents or other smaller bookchains - Co-Op Bookstores (TAFE's/Uni's), QDB, Readings etc..