From the Staples press release:
[Staples] announced today plans to offer customers Kindle, Amazon’s #1 best-selling, most-wished-for and most-gifted product for two years running. Staples is the only office superstore to carry the wireless reading device in all of its stores nationwide beginning this fall. …
Staples will also carry a full assortment of Kindle accessories. Kindle is part of several new exciting technology products available from Staples in time for the 2010 holiday season. Staples will announce their full line-up of top tech products and other great savings for the season later this fall.
“All of its stores.” That’s around 1800, no?
Plus Target.
More to come?
They’re not fooling around, are they?
Staples alone should pretty much fill the need for a B&M presence to counter Nook.
And at the same price as online? Sounds like there is enough profit in K3 to at least cover the Staples shelf-space costs.
Still in Target? It looks like they blew through the Kindle 2 … and Kindle 3 is not shown as for sale there.
However — between the 1500 Staples and 1700 target stores … that’s a distribution network of 3,000 stores. It also suggests that the Kindle 3 is NOT being subsidized at current retail prices as some were claiming. Wholesale to Amazon is probably no more than 50% of retail.
And if they are doing this volume — no wonder no other vendor has yet formally announced a unit featuring the very much improved Pearl e-ink screens. Amazon must have taken all supplies for an initial period.
When Bezos said, last month, that kindle was going to expand its B&M retail presence, he said it would be *in addition* to Target.
“Bezos said that in the next several months, the company would add more retail venues where the Kindle could be purchased, beyond Target Corp and airport bookstores run by HMSHost. Amazon will continue to run television ads, he said.”
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2010/07/28/amazon-offers-wireless-kindle-mass-appeal-2074902038/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+foxbusiness/retail+(Internal+-+Retail+-+Text)
Presumably, Target and Staples will both get their shelves stocked with the Pearl Kindles after the launch wave of orders is filled.
I’m wondering is this means that Staples will be set up to change Kindle batteries. It would make perfect sense to have a retail outlet available to do that.