Walmart Abandons Amazon's Kindle Lineup 104
New submitter kiriath writes "Walmart has followed Target in ceasing to sell the Amazon Kindle product line. This is not terribly surprising, since Amazon and Walmart are major competitors. From the article: 'The world's largest retailer, which has been trying to catch up to Amazon in online sales, said the decision was consistent with its overall merchandising strategy. ... Now, with two large chains no longer selling Kindle, speculation has grown that the dominant online retailer could open its stores where shoppers could try out and buy Kindles. Amazon "is a little bit of a Trojan horse" when the Kindle is sold in other stores, said Sucharita Mulpuru, retail analyst at Forrester Research. "They should have made this decision to not carry the Kindle a long time ago."'"
Amazon is preparing to crush Wal-Mart (Score:5, Interesting)
Amazon is taking over more and more of retail. They've already taken over books and DVDs. They took over and re-started Webvan. [webvan.com] They're building local distribution centers for same day delivery. They bought Kiva Robotics so those warehouses won't need many people.
The glory years of store-based retail are over. No new enclosed mall has been built in the US in a decade. Most retail areas have vacant stores that will never be used again. In a few years, retail will consist of recreational shopping and convenience stores. Everything else will be on line.
Then all we have to worry about is downtime. Read E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops".
brick and mortar (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:No Surprise (Score:4, Interesting)
Believe it or not Walmart is actually pretty good to deal with in that regard. If they can sell it at a profit they don't seem to care. Have a game that uses steam, or an item that connects you primarily to an online store that would cut walmart of the process? No problem, as long as the product in question can make money.
I bet walmart would sell amazon gift cards if they exist (I don't know if there are physical amazon gift cards like there are for itunes, if they exist they might just not be where I am in canada).
Walmart are assholes about commoditized goods, if your toaster isn't the cheapest toaster on the market, or you don't expect to sell a million of them they won't talk to you, or they'll demand you lower the price. And if you order 40 000 toasters to put in their stores they can change their mind if and leave you stuck with them. But if they think they'll make money on maps to the nearest costco they'd probably sell them to you.
Maybe.. not yet (Score:5, Interesting)
Revenue:
Walmart: 460b
Target: 71b
Amazon: 54b
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Wal-Mart_(WMT)/Data/Revenue [wikinvest.com]
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Target_(TGT)/Data/Revenue [wikinvest.com]
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Amazon.com_(AMZN)/Data/Revenue [wikinvest.com]
Net profit:
Walmart: 16.4b
Target: 2.9b
Amazon: 0.38b
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Wal-Mart_(WMT)/Data/Net_Income/2012 [wikinvest.com]
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Target_(TGT)/Data/Net_Income [wikinvest.com]
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Amazon.com_(AMZN)/Data/Net_Income [wikinvest.com]
So Walmart is 10x larger by revenue.. and 43x more profitable.
Target is 1.5x larger by revenue.. and 7x more profitable.
Amazon has a long way to go.
Re:Who's affected? (Score:4, Interesting)
Who would even buy a Kindle from WalMart or Target in the first place? That's a purchase for an electronic appliance store like a Future shop or perhaps one of the many bookstores that carry them. Walmart is for your cheap, disposable type items
You got this totally ass-backwards. Walmart is well-represented everywhere and has a generous return policy. Further, if you're a California resident you have additional rights, and many of us are (take a quick look at population distribution...) so there are many reasons to buy something in a store as opposed to ordering it. The same logic applies to buying from Costco. I could possibly have got an LCD TV cheaper elsewhere even with shipping, but they gave a 2 year warranty where the same model (with a different model number, but the same damn thing) at other places had only 1 year. AND, often if you bring something in to costco even after the warranty period they'll replace it just to keep you happy.
No, online is the place to buy cheap, disposable items, because you can always order up another one. Wal-mart is for buying things you think you might want to take back to the store.