Will Kobo expand to address the US market?

[6charlong]

With the transfer of Sony's US customers to Kobo there are bound to be a lot more customer service calls, more people looking for a replacement for older Sony eReaders, etc. I was just wondering if Kobo is going to increase their presence in the States, including a campaign to help readers find the independent bookstores in their communities that carry Kobo products.

[Dr. Drib]

Let's just hope this doesn't translate to even more confusion regarding orders, credit cards, etc.!

[RobertJSawyer]

Remember, Kobo WAS in the US market; they were partnered with what was the second-largest US bookstore chain, Borders. But, of course, since Borders went defunct, Kobo has doubtless been seeking other ways to gain market share in the US.

[TechniSol]

I wonder that Rakuten, owning Kobo, would much prefer we buy our Kobo readers online.

I recently made an in-warranty exchange through Kobo and found it to be relatively painless beyond the requirement of sending them a bunch of images of the unit and having to wait what seemed like an extra 3 or 4 days while my replacement seemed to sit in the same Canadian sorting facility.

For the most part it was painless, the online chat staffers were helpful, and they shipped my replacement and sent tracking info as I shipped out my unit so that they "passed in shipping".

I think about all they could do to improve is waive the picture taking for claims not involving outward physical damage and possibly send USA replacements out from a US source to minimize delay, but that is a very minor criticism.

As far as having a presence I wonder if perhaps targeted advertising, maybe finding one large retail(think W) partner that will sell readers at a nominal discount and for which Kobo will likely only make profit from book sales, and further third party deals like the one that had Kobo Reader software as part of the apps present on the $99 Nextbook android tablet I bought last summer would be the way to go.

If nothing else, Kobo has hedged their bets. They have a book selling income, probably the big end of things, Kobo e-ink readers, Kobo android readers, and various android and IOS apps. I think Rakuten, as their owners, need to provide a greater presence for them on their site. There should be a Kobo Store linkage on their site that offers readers and books as Rakuten offers everything else and they should cross promote. Rakuten has a reward points program, that should migrate and be usable for Kobo books and devices to keep the money in the family, so to speak.

[dakini]

Kobos used to also be available in Best Buys as well as Targets in the USA, but they've been replaced with Nooks in Targets. I learned that when I went to replace mine, which still had a Target warranty, and they said it would be replaced with a Nook. Kobo stepped up and replaced it with one of their own, and a better model, making the process painless. Though it would be nice to have a brick and mortar store have them so people could at least see what each brand looks like.

I was living in the UK when trying to decide what brand and model to get, and waited til I was in the US and could see the Simple Touch with Glowlight before deciding not to get that one (they weren't available in the UK at that time).

[TicklishOwl]

The entire line of Kobo readers are available online from Best Buy. It'd be nice if they were in-store as well, but at least it's something.

I'd much prefer purchasing from an indie bookseller, but after multiple visits to several Kobo retailers in the area, none were capable of understanding the difference between the Aura HD and the Aura 6". I even emailed them links to the promotional material and ordering info at the ABA website. Utter fail. I don't know who to fault either; Kobo for the apparently confounding naming scheme, or the staff at the bookstores for not being able to read.

Now, Kobo just needs to bring back gift cards!

Edited to add: Looks like the Touch and Mini are no longer available at Best Buy, but the other devices are.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by TicklishOwl

Now, Kobo just needs to bring back gift cards!

http://www.kobo.com/giftcards/wheretobuy

[taming]

In the US, Nook couldn't compete with Amazon; Sony couldn't compete with Amazon. I wonder how much money Rakuten would have to be willing to spend to see if they could magically go from 3% (last number I saw) to 20% of the US market? I wonder if that is the best place for them to concentrate those marketing dollars?

[TechniSol]

Amazon is an 800 lb. Gorilla, no doubt of that. I wonder that anyone outside of Amazon may concentrate efforts outside the US and consider whatever they do here gravy to a certain extent considering how big Amazon is and the fairly aggressive pricing of their hardware offerings. Although, we've all been conditioned to believe hardware costs more to make than it actually does in large quantities. Look at non contract cellphone prices and then look at third party smartphones and tablets with 98% identical hardware selling for under $200... Hilarious.

Amazon has a lot of money, it's not inconceivable for them to take temporary losses to gain dominance or provide a pathway to continued income through content sales. I'll bet books represent the smallest percentage of content they sell anyhow.

[TicklishOwl]

Originally Posted by PeterT

http://www.kobo.com/giftcards/wheretobuy

Oh, fantastic! Thank you! I was looking at eGift cards, which are still unavailable here. I prefer the paper cards, so I'm happy.