Clara HD out of stock at Kobo's US store!

[Skydog]

Originally Posted by mirage

The border part is my biggest concern. Once it's through customs, it'll probably get here in a few days. I hope it's not sitting there for a week. Same goes for my order from Indigo, which has already shipped, but still tracks as being in Ontario two days later.

No need to be concerned. It's usually seven business days from order/shipping to delivery in CA. Funny, before online tracking existed we never even knew where our package was.

[mirage]

Originally Posted by Skydog

No need to be concerned. It's usually seven business days from order/shipping to delivery in CA. Funny, before online tracking existed we never even knew where our package was.

I've thought about that. We get used to these conveniences a lot more easily than we adjust to their disappearance or lessening.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Skydog

My guess it will ship Monday. The slowest part of the process is crossing the border once it has shipped. Even so, it's far better than ordering online from Walmart (speaking from experience).

Originally Posted by Skydog

It's usually seven business days from order/shipping to delivery in CA.

I ordered my Clara from Walmart on Wednesday and got it on Thursday. For me at least, ordering my Kobo from Walmart was clearly a superior experience.

And yes, I do feel weird defending Walmart.

[Skydog]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I ordered my Clara from Walmart on Wednesday and got it on Thursday. For me at least, ordering my Kobo from Walmart was clearly a superior experience.

And yes, I do feel weird defending Walmart.

Oh, do not feel weird. It's always good to hear when someone has had a positive experience.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by mirage

If Walmart has no exclusivity, why doesn't anyone else sell these devices? Is there that little demand in the US? Could be, I suppose, given that Kobo doesn't even have a US physical presence. Amazon has a bunch of people selling covers for them. But maybe they don't sell all that many. Maybe Amazon doesn't want Best Buy selling competitors. But they sell multiple brands of TVs, which they must sell many times more of than they do ereaders.

Reading isn’t as prevalent in the US as it is in other countries, or at least some studies would indicate that. However even if that’s dismissed ereaders are a niche market of a niche market. It’s likely that Kindle gets placed in Best Buy because Amazon pressures Best Buy in to it.

The ereader area of my local Best Buy has shrunk over the years to the point it’s basically a small part of tablets. The eink kindles look thrown on and more often then not are just laying there off the cradle likely only not stolen because of the security/power cables.

Best Buy isn’t gonna give up space for something that doesn’t earn its place somehow and neither Kobo nor Barnes and Noble have the leverage needed.

[Skydog]

Originally Posted by mirage

I've thought about that. We get used to these conveniences a lot more easily than we adjust to their disappearance or lessening.

Blame it on Amazon.

[mirage]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Best Buy isn’t gonna give up space for something that doesn’t earn its place somehow and neither Kobo nor Barnes and Noble have the leverage needed.

Understood. But their online store doesn't need to give up space for niche products. They sell all sorts of items on their website that they don't carry in stores. That's true of all the big box stores with online presences along with smaller brick and mortar electronics stores like B&H Photo Video who sells lots of what I'd guess to be low volume products online.

I'm not arguing with you. I get your points. It's just strange to me that Kobo readers are only sold by one vendor in a country of 330 million people, even if they are rather obscure. And that one vendor is distasteful to many shoppers and they don't cater to a crowd that reads a lot of ebooks on top of it.

How many readers has Kobo sold to US residents over the last year? How many in Canada where they're plentiful and easy to get? I assume that they don't publicize these figures, but maybe they do. I'd think that if one other vendor sold Kobo readers online only and promoted them even just a little bit, that they'd sell enough to make it worthwhile. Could such a website sell, say, 10,000 units a year? That's a modest number, but that could make them more profit than one of the more arcane USB adapters they sell.

I'm an outsider to all this. I don't claim to understand the ins and outs of it all. Just speculating and wondering. But if Walmart really doesn't have exclusivity, I don't understand why other vendors wouldn't sell these products online. What's to lose?

[MGlitch]

Warehouse space isn’t unlimited and while it can be had for cheap depending where you set up any company looks to maximize profits.

There’s nothing to lose but there’s nothing really to gain. The majority of people browsing Best Buy in the USA will just get a kindle Best Buy has made a sale they go on being happy. A few people will go elsewhere to get a Kobo but how many? Even the majority of this forum don’t buy a new ereader all that often which puts sales way down.

[AZBronco]

Warehouse space isn't unlimited, but why Kobo doesn't work out drop shipping with retailers is a bit of a mystery. Best Buy could list Kobo on the webiste, take a small commission on anything sold, and Kobo could fulfill the order. Seems like a win-win to me.

I also saw this morning the Libra H2O is also out of stock on the Kobo US store.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I ordered my Clara from Walmart on Wednesday and got it on Thursday. For me at least, ordering my Kobo from Walmart was clearly a superior experience.

And yes, I do feel weird defending Walmart.

My Clara ordered from Walmart also came the next day (pre-Covid)

Originally Posted by Skydog

Oh, do not feel weird. It's always good to hear when someone has had a positive experience.

Normally I don't shop at Walmart unless the thing I want isn't available somewhere else. I ordered the Kobo from Walmart because I knew it would arrive quickly and if by chance I got a lemon, I could return it to the local store.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Reading isn’t as prevalent in the US as it is in other countries, or at least some studies would indicate that. However even if that’s dismissed ereaders are a niche market of a niche market. It’s likely that Kindle gets placed in Best Buy because Amazon pressures Best Buy in to it.

The ereader area of my local Best Buy has shrunk over the years to the point it’s basically a small part of tablets. The eink kindles look thrown on and more often then not are just laying there off the cradle likely only not stolen because of the security/power cables.

Best Buy isn’t gonna give up space for something that doesn’t earn its place somehow and neither Kobo nor Barnes and Noble have the leverage needed.

Best Buy doesn't work the way you think they do. Many displays in Best Buy are what are called store within a store. Apple, Samsung, Amazon and others rent floor space in Best Buy and have a section that displays only their products.

So Apple laptops aren't blended in with those barbarous Windows laptops or even (God forbid) Chromebooks, but instead have their own dedicated space in the store.

That's what I've seen with Amazon as well. Kindles in Best Buy tend to be displayed alongside Fire tablets and Alexa devices. Something like this (though this is not my local store and I didn't take this photo):

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Skydog

Blame it on Amazon.

That might as well be the subheading on the Kobo forum. Some days it feels like it could be the subheading on MobileRead over all

[John F]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Best Buy doesn't work the way you think they do. Many displays in Best Buy are what are called store within a store. Apple, Samsung, Amazon and others rent floor space in Best Buy and have a section that displays only their products.

So Apple laptops aren't blended in with those barbarous Windows laptops or even (God forbid) Chromebooks, but instead have their own dedicated space in the store.

...

I was wondering if Kobo had a similar arrangement with Walmart? Maybe Kobo bit off more than they can chew?

[93terp]

Originally Posted by AZBronco

I also saw this morning the Libra H2O is also out of stock on the Kobo US store.

As of about an hour ago, the Clara HD, Libra H20 and both variants of the Forma are in-stock at the Kobo US online store.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Best Buy doesn't work the way you think they do. Many displays in Best Buy are what are called store within a store. Apple, Samsung, Amazon and others rent floor space in Best Buy and have a section that displays only their products.

I'd argue that still fits within the parameters I set, the products aren't given space they earn it. In this case they earn it because the companies pay for the space.