Walmart Abandons Amazon's Kindle Lineup

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."'"

Comments

No Surprise

[oakgrove]

Huge multi-national discount chain doesn't want to sell a product the sole purpose of which is to get people to spend money somewhere else. News at 11.

Re:No Surprise

[Sir_Sri]

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.

Re:Who's affected?

[tlhIngan]

Who would even buy a Kindle from WalMart or Target in the first place?

People who shop at Target and Walmart? People who broke theirs and need a replacement immediately? People who wants theirs immediately? (It's the same price, after all)

Thing is, there are a LARGE number of people who don't shop online. They'll purchase stuff from curated stores (Amazon, Apple, etc), but they won't go open a browser and type www.amazon.com, click through and check out. They will however find a book, see "buy it", tap it and boom, book is on their device.

Thing is, a lot of other countries don't often have strong online shopping cultures (mostly due to lack of a decent Amazon, and competitors that charge shipping and taxes), so being able to buy it in a retail store for the same price is often quite appealing.

Amazon is preparing to crush Wal-Mart

[Animats]

Amazon is taking over more and more of retail. They've already taken over books and DVDs. They took over and re-started Webvan. 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

[Cobble]

Amazon should just buy the ailing Best Buy franchise and then they have instant brick and mortar storefronts all across America. Apparently, many people already go to Best Buy to touch the merchandise before they go online to buy it at Amazon anyway ;)

Re:Amazon is the biggest 'illusionist' around!

[Anonymous Coward]

you confuse revenue with investment, and still have the nerve to call others retards?

Maybe.. not yet

[rgbrenner]

Revenue:
Walmart: 460b
Target: 71b
Amazon: 54b

http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Wal-Mart_(WMT)/Data/Revenue
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Target_(TGT)/Data/Revenue
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Amazon.com_(AMZN)/Data/Revenue

Net profit:
Walmart: 16.4b
Target: 2.9b
Amazon: 0.38b

http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Wal-Mart_(WMT)/Data/Net_Income/2012
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Target_(TGT)/Data/Net_Income
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Amazon.com_(AMZN)/Data/Net_Income

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:Maybe.. not yet

[rgbrenner]

Amazon has about the same revenue as Best Buy (50b).. but BBY made 1.28b in net profits.

Even when comparing Amazon to retail companies of similar size.. it doesn't perform well.

Let me rephrase.. even when comparing Amazon to failing retails giants.. Amazon does not perform well.

Lowe's.. 50b.. 1.8b net profits
Staples.. 25b.. 0.88b net profits

Did you know foot locker makes 278m on 5.6b in revenue.... 2/3rd the profits on 1/10th the revenue compared to amazon.

Point is... there's no indication that amazon will destroy B&M retail. So far they have not been able to show the profit margin or even just net profit that traditional retailers have been able to.

Re:Who's affected?

[drinkypoo]

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.