Amazon trying to unlock Russian book market

[Alexander Turcic]

As the old Russian proverb goes, "He who does not take risks does not get to drink champagne." In the case of Amazon, the saying may be amended to, "He who does not take risks misses the chance to make a fortune as the world's biggest book seller in the (territory-wise) largest country in the world." Publishing Perspectives has revealed some tantalizing details about Amazon's expansion plans into the Russian book market:

[Amazon] has begun signing contracts with Russia’s largest publishing houses to supply electronic content to its Russian store.

According to Amazon, at the initial stage the company will sell only digital content in Russia, while later will expand to print books. Currently, Russians buy tens of millions of dollars worth of print books and other media from Amazon, though these are ordered from overseas sites (and consequently, an alarmingly high percentage is “lost” in the post). [...]

According to Andrew Cechin, head of commercial projects Ozon.ru, the largest Russian online retailer, delivery of digital media content in Russia will be more profitable for Amazon than would establishing a large-scale logistics operation from scratch.

More at Publishing Perspectives (via Goodereader)

[image by David Dennis via Flickr]