Kobo Clara $100 at Walmart

[Barbara1955]

Originally Posted by teija

Not entirely... Best Buy Canada still sell Kobo: https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/search?search=kobo

NOT in the US!

[teija]

Originally Posted by Barbara1955

NOT in the US!

No... it is an unusual situation. Usually it is Canada who "misses out." Still... not on sale here (at Best Buy OR Walmart) so the US still wins out today

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by tch65721

Local Walmart isn't putting any effort into selling them. There was no display and the sales people didn't even know they existed. You can find them if you look hard enough but there is absolutely no chance anyone would make an impulse buy.

When I checked Walmart online before buying it showed no availability in stores near me, so I guess my local stores don't carry them.

Originally Posted by Kindleing

I have wondered the same thing because I have read articles about Walmart requiring manufacturers to lower their prices by leaving out normally included accessory items. Specifically, I have wondered whether the Kobos with light bleed issues have come from Walmart, or did some of them come direct from Kobo.

I don't have a Kobo but have been thinking about getting one.
Wally

I bought a Clara from Walmart recently (ordered online) and haven't noticed any issues with the light.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Raphi'Elohim

It might be on sale for no other reason than class reasons... in America, has traditionally been a middle class thing not the typical Walmart shopper thing. I am living in a middle class neighborhood but I have been to Walmart before.

I live in an upper middle class/upper class suburb outside of Houston and have three Walmarts within a ten minute drive.

I don't like Walmart personally, but I think you are unaware of who shops there.

I used to buy Kobo's until they joined with Walmart which I think was a dumb move for demographic reasons.

Hopefully it is not intentional, but you come off as an insufferable snob.

Originally Posted by haertig

Has anyone investigated if the Kobo Clara for sale at Walmart is the same (features and quality) as a Clara sold elsewhere? ...is the Kobo from Walmart the same as the Kobo from a different retailer? I don't know. But it's certainly worth investigating before purchasing just because it is cheap at Walmart.

From my experience, when Walmart or Target sells a lower class version of an item by a known brand, they distinguish it somehow. The 'Levi's' sold at Walmart are Signature by Levi Strauss (and the Target ones are DENIZEN From Levi's).

Originally Posted by Kindleing

Specifically, I have wondered whether the Kobos with light bleed issues have come from Walmart, or did some of them come direct from Kobo.

I ordered my Clara from Walmart. No light bleed issues. And no, the Claras with the issue aren't exclusively from any one retailer. The light bleed issue is a Kobo manufacturing issue, not some subpar model being sent to a poverty retailer.

Check out the Trying to love Kobo, but... or Cured of Kobo threads. Bought his devices in the UK and had light bleed issues.

Originally Posted by teija

Not entirely... Best Buy Canada still sell Kobo: https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/search?search=kobo

Well, Kobo is a Canadian company after all. I hope Canadian Best Buy would stock them.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Barbara1955

They Were at Best buy several years ago..... slow sales killed that deal.

Yep. And they used to sell Nooks as well. (I think they might have even sold Sony Readers for a while.)

[tch65721]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

When I checked Walmart online before buying it showed no availability in stores near me, so I guess my local stores don't carry them.

WalMart online is seldom accurate. My store didn't have Clara either but had seven or eight of the first Aura (still priced at $99) so I confused it with the sale Clara at first. I suppose they got them in when the "alliance" was first formed, stuck them in a locked cabinet and promptly forgot about them. Online shows out of stock everywhere on this item but the local store has several.
To purchase a reader in store, I had to take a card which was hanging on a peg to a WM employee and exchange it for the actual reader to purchase. The problem was the card didn't specify model, price or any useful info at all. Finding an employee capable of locating the item wasn't easy either. I lost interest when I discovered which model they actually had.
If you know what you want you're better off ordering online. I only jumped through hoops because I wanted a look at the product. I didn't get it.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

When I checked Walmart online before buying it showed no availability in stores near me, so I guess my local stores don't carry them.

I don't think Walmart ever carried Claras in-store. It's always been (at best) two day delivery to the store or home delivery. The one they did carry in some stores was the Aura 2 and now they're gone from the website (they were on clearance, so I guess they won't be coming back).

[teija]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Well, Kobo is a Canadian company after all. I hope Canadian Best Buy would stock them.

WAS a Canadian company... until they were bought out by Ratuken (a Japanese company).

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by teija

WAS a Canadian company... until they were bought out by Ratuken (a Japanese company).

Rakuten Kobo Inc., or simply Kobo, is a Canadian company which sells e-books, audiobooks, e-readers and tablet computers. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario and is a subsidiary of the Japanese e-commerce conglomerate Rakuten

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by tch65721

WalMart online is seldom accurate. My store didn't have Clara either but had seven or eight of the first Aura (still priced at $99) so I confused it with the sale Clara at first. I suppose they got them in when the "alliance" was first formed, stuck them in a locked cabinet and promptly forgot about them. Online shows out of stock everywhere on this item but the local store has several.
To purchase a reader in store, I had to take a card which was hanging on a peg to a WM employee and exchange it for the actual reader to purchase. The problem was the card didn't specify model, price or any useful info at all. Finding an employee capable of locating the item wasn't easy either. I lost interest when I discovered which model they actually had.
If you know what you want you're better off ordering online. I only jumped through hoops because I wanted a look at the product. I didn't get it.

I hardly ever go to Walmart - for me it's the store of last resort if I can't find what I need elsewhere. I miss Kmart - the one I used to shop at was easier to get in and out of and less crowded than Walmart.

I've shopped in stores that use the card system for purchase of some items but normally the cards have a stock number on them so that the employees will know what to look for.


When I bought my first ereader in 2012, between Barnes and Noble, Best Buy and Target I was able to see most, if not all of the major brand ereaders in person in local stores (can't remember if Kobo was in the stores at that time). I bought my first Sony reader at my local Target. I would think having Kobos highly visible and available for trying in stores would be beneficial to sales but I guess Kobo doesn't agree.

[Raphi'Elohim]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I know. When I read the instructions for the original displays (left lying in the store) there was something about Kobos being expanded into the main floor plan this past April. But none of that seems to have happened. They've hired some contractor to renew the displays once a week and their effort seems less than minimal. The display models I've seen are either broken, or were never set up. It looks like they're happy to sell online. Not exactly the threat to Amazon they touted when this alliance was announced.

Well, that is kind of what I was trying to say more or less before IssyBird gently accosted me like Bolshevik Commissar. Most of the demographic that shops at walmart are of a social class that does not read books or at least not a lot of books.

The average number of books each person read over the course of a year was 12…but that number is inflated by the most avid readers. The most frequently reported number was 4 books per year. Of course, there's plenty of variation among demographics. Certain groups read more, or less, than the country as a whole.

The middle classes undoubtedly read more than the working classes on average and Walmart is more of a working class kind of store.

It makes no sense for Walmart to put Kobos on display since way more of the tablets on display would sell.

To me this is all just common sense.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I would think having Kobos highly visible and available for trying in stores would be beneficial to sales but I guess Kobo doesn't agree.

I don't think Kobo has much say. Walmart decides how they are going to stock and lay out displays in stores. I get the feeling Walmart has not been quite the partner Kobo was hoping for when they signed this agreement.

As for me, I ordered my Clara online from Walmart. I was promised two day delivery, but it arrived the next day. Another plus, I didn't have to go to Walmart. This allowed me to avoid mixing with the hoi polloi, which should please Raphi

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

As for me, I ordered my Clara online from Walmart. I was promised two day delivery, but it arrived the next day. Another plus, I didn't have to go to Walmart. This allowed me to avoid mixing with the hoi polloi, which should please Raphi

Ditto to all of this!

[haertig]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Another plus, I didn't have to go to Walmart. This allowed me to avoid mixing with the hoi polloi, which should please Raphi

But you missed out on the experience! When I long for an international travel experience, that I can't afford, I just go to Walmart instead.

[teija]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Rakuten Kobo Inc., or simply Kobo, is a Canadian company which sells e-books, audiobooks, e-readers and tablet computers. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario and is a subsidiary of the Japanese e-commerce conglomerate Rakuten

I worked for what once was a Canadian company, bought out by an American company and operating as a subsidiary... Sorry to say, despite their beginnings, after a few years the parent company defined ours as being an American company. All of the shots were called by the parent company in the US.

Thus, even if they have a "headquarters" in Toronto, I no longer consider Kobo to be Canadian.