Why Are E-readers Not Widely Sold in Stores?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by bookyboy

I was in a Best Buy looking at the Oasis 3 a few weeks ago at the Kindle display and it was painful to hear the sales associate guiding an interested but uninformed buyer towards a Fire tablet for "the best and most comfortable reading experience".

I had a chat with that person after the associate left and they ended up getting a Kindle Paperwhite 4 that was on a great sale ($80 for the 32GB model). To say they were greatful is an understatement.

You should have sent them to Walmart to get a Kobo.

[bookyboy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You should have sent them to Walmart to get a Kobo.

Would have, just for comparison sake, but the Walmarts in our area don’t carry them.

[Sarmat89]

I think it is because in the West, the readers are walled gardens, and you cannot just buy a not vendor-locked generic reader.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sarmat89

I think it is because in the West, the readers are walled gardens, and you cannot just buy a not vendor-locked generic reader.

Actually, the only walled gardens are Kindles.Everyone that uses RMSDK such as Kobo and nook are not walled and you can get eBooks from Overdrive in any country and from any shop that sells ePub that's either DRM free or ADE comparable.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by Sarmat89

I think it is because in the West, the readers are walled gardens, and you cannot just buy a not vendor-locked generic reader.

Iirc, I bought my iRiver Story HD at Target and my Sony PRS-350 from Best Buy (both at clearance pricing).

As has been mentioned, the likely explanation for retailers not carrying non-Kindle readers anymore is that they just don't sell well locally.

[Richwood]

Even most B&N stores do not stock the high end 7.8" Nook. I was on line and B&N listed 3 stores within 100 miles of Reno, all in California, that had the Glowlight Plus in stock but not the Reno store. Only purchase option offered was to purchase on line and the free shipping was scheduled to take a week.

Walmart, the USA brick and mortar store Kobo retailer, does not list all models and some listed are only available on line or deliverable to a store for pickup. The Walmart web site also lists a couple of BOOX readers but it looks to me like they are on clearance. A Nook page listed 4 BOOX models at page bottom but the links for two are not even working. My last Kobo I ordered direct from the Kobo USA store and it took over a week to arrive via UPS surface shipment from Canada, signature required.

IMO one reason for Amazon's dominance of ebook reader sales in the USA is the ease of on line ordering with fast delivery and the Amazon listing descriptions are much more complete than the info available for Kobo and Nook.

[4691mls]

I don't understand why Walmart doesn't carry the Kobos in more stores. At the time I ordered my Clara last summer none of my local stores had them. I just checked out of curiosity and one Walmart in my area has the $99 Aura, but none of the other nearby stores has any Kobos.

Seems like they'd want to have the Kobo devices in store as a way to introduce people to buying Kobo ebooks through Walmart.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I don't understand why Walmart doesn't carry the Kobos in more stores. At the time I ordered my Clara last summer none of my local stores had them. I just checked out of curiosity and one Walmart in my area has the $99 Aura, but none of the other nearby stores has any Kobos.

Seems like they'd want to have the Kobo devices in store as a way to introduce people to buying Kobo ebooks through Walmart.

<noticed this also and not just Kobo, many electronic items>
Demographics for the location (not, the store size) ?
Mountainview: Yes
Santa Maria: No
Lompoc: Yes