MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Why Are E-readers Not Widely Sold in Stores?

kacir · 12-05-2019, 09:22 AM

PocketBooks are not in stores in USA, because long time ago PocketBook tried to sell readers for significantly lover price in USA than in the rest of the world - Europe and Russia and other former Soviet Republics. They had to sell cheap in USA, because they had competition from Amazon and other brands. And, of course, EVERYTHING electronic is cheaper in USA. No mandatory 2 year warranty, no strong consumer protection laws, no 20+% VAT on the top of the [advertised] price ...

This pissed off customers here in Europe and especially CIS, because in former Soviet Union states people typically earn much less than people in USA and can't afford an e-ink reader as easily, and PocketBook at the time was an Ukraine based company and people there felt that it was doubly unjust that they would have to sponsor lower prices for wealthy, spoiled Americans.

At first PocketBook tried to hide prices of e-ink readers for USA customers from the rest of [potential] customers, but, ... how would you do that effectively in the Internet era?

So ... they retreated from the American market entirely.

12-05-2019, 09:22 AM	#12
kacir Wizard Posts: 3,463 Karma: 10684861 Join Date: May 2006 Device: PocketBook 360, before it was Sony Reader, cassiopeia A-20	PocketBooks are not in stores in USA, because long time ago PocketBook tried to sell readers for significantly lover price in USA than in the rest of the world - Europe and Russia and other former Soviet Republics. They had to sell cheap in USA, because they had competition from Amazon and other brands. And, of course, EVERYTHING electronic is cheaper in USA. No mandatory 2 year warranty, no strong consumer protection laws, no 20+% VAT on the top of the [advertised] price ... This pissed off customers here in Europe and especially CIS, because in former Soviet Union states people typically earn much less than people in USA and can't afford an e-ink reader as easily, and PocketBook at the time was an Ukraine based company and people there felt that it was doubly unjust that they would have to sponsor lower prices for wealthy, spoiled Americans. At first PocketBook tried to hide prices of e-ink readers for USA customers from the rest of [potential] customers, but, ... how would you do that effectively in the Internet era? So ... they retreated from the American market entirely.