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Your friendly neighborhood Target store is getting ready to give Amazon a brick-and-mortar sized wedgie as it tosses the e-tailer's entire Kindle line right out of its stores. Even Amazon's Kindle Fire, Target's top selling tablet device on Black Friday last year, will be extinguished from Target's chain of stores, and it appears it's all due to a conflict of interest with Barnes & Noble and its Nook line.
An internal memo detailing the surprising decision was obtained by The Verge on Wednesday, and then was later confirmed via a request for comment.
"Target continually evaluates its product assortment to deliver the best quality and prices for our guests. Target is phasing out Kindles and Amazon- and Kindle-branded products in the spring of 2012. We will continue to offer our guests a full assortment of eReaders and supporting accessories including the Nook," Target told The Verge.
Searching for Kindle devices on Target's website is like looking for a needle in a haystack where there is no needle. In other words, Target has already expunged Kindle devices from its online portal (though you can still find non-Amazon brand Kindle accessories), and from the leaked memo, it appears Amazon hardware will stop being replenished after Mother's Day, May 13.
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nsvander
May 03, 2012 at 2:54pm
I wonder if this also has anything to do with Target now setting up special Apple sections inside select stores?
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/05/03/apple_expected_to_expand_store_within_store_presence_at_walmart_target.html
ProtoJMB
May 03, 2012 at 11:07pm
No no no! If that had anything to do with it, then we would be seeing stories about Walmart kicking Kindle to the curb as well! Because Walmart is also getting the "store within a store" treatment from Apple as well! I am not saying there ISN'T some sort of conspiracy going on here, but I also don't think we are hitting on it just yet.
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aarcane
May 03, 2012 at 1:24pm
Kindle sucks anyway, Nook is better, product-by-product. It's just a question of who's paying more for marketing. Just like noone uses facial tissue, they use kleenex; noone uses an ereader or tablite anymore, they use a kindle or a kindle. Amazon acquired a level of brand recognition by being the first to widely advertise in the ebook market, just like iPod gained brand recognition by being the first to widely advertise in the PMP market, and Microsoft was the first to advertise in the General Purpose Operating System market.
Goolashe
May 05, 2012 at 7:10pm
While working in the electronics department at walmart, I've personally never heard someone call a non kindle e-reader a kindle. They always call them e-readers or "book tablets." Though that's just the small little area of the planet I experience.
JohnP
May 03, 2012 at 12:46pm
The funny thing is that, although I have a Amazon Prime account and order tons of stuff from Amazon, I still bought both my Kindle Fire and Kindle reader at a brick and mortar store, BJs. BJs lowered the price just enough so that sales tax hit was halved. Don't count out local stores for Kindles.
Someone paid off Target, I cannot see any other good reason to drop the gear.
vrmlbasic
May 05, 2012 at 2:47pm
I'm amazed BJs carries the Kindle. They have an ever-shrinking selection of anything that isn't a grocery item. I wouldn't be surprised to go into my local store one day and see that the whole tech section has been removed.
They even stopped carrying map books, with the exception of their 9 dollar Rand-McNally road atlases. As a bit of a cartographile, this pains me (Google maps on a smartphone is cool and all, but the greater detail of a good map book is often needed by me).
My state's sales tax is 6%, and it is still in danger of going up to at least 7%. I can't imagine my local BJs outpricing Amazon with that kind of disadvantage.
Additionally, if my local BJs were to out-price any other local store, it wouldn't last long as legal price floors would go into effect. My local BJs has a gas station, I don't know if yours does, but after it set significantly lower prices than the other gas stations the lobbyists went to work and established a price floor for gas. BJs can't be more than ~10 cents less than whatever the closest stations are, in effect.
(/tangential rant)
jadei
May 03, 2012 at 10:45am
I'll *never* buy anything made by Apple but I might have bought a kindle or accessories for my kindle at Target.
randomgeek
May 03, 2012 at 9:50am
Since Microsoft just invested $300 million in the Nook division I wonder if they(MS) had anything to do with this decision.
stradric
May 03, 2012 at 7:37am
Target is also getting some kind of Apple mini-store. I imagine Apple said "ditch the kindle and you can have an Apple mini store". Somehow that is not being reported in many of these reports.
Secondly, Target sells stuff through Amazon. I'm betting Amazon will stop doing that, which may end up hurting Target more than not selling Kindles will hurt Amazon.
ProtoJMB
May 03, 2012 at 10:53pm
What? That wouldn't make sense. Mini store's are only going out to a small number of Target stores. It isn't "being reported" because there isn't enough evidence to correlate. Also, Target has not sold stuff through Amazon since August 2011.
Megaman1221
May 03, 2012 at 9:43am
I have a feeling that's exactly what happened. I work for Target, we sell at least one Kindle every day, usually 2 or 3, while I think I've sold 1 Nook since we started carrying them.
dgrmouse
May 03, 2012 at 7:10am
Oh, no! Where will I be able to buy an Amazon Kindle now?
Seriously, though, Amazon has the direct-sale stuff down-pat. The Kindles arrive quickly (2-3 days with free shipping), and they seem to ship already fully-charged and linked to their new owners' Amazon accounts. This won't hurt their business one iota.
ProtoJMB
May 03, 2012 at 6:40am
Target.com never carried Kindle e-readers in the first place, that's why you can't find them. As far as the stores not carrying them, I think it's a big mistake.
Raswan
May 03, 2012 at 8:16am
What do you think will make Target more money--the kindle or an Apple mini store?
I don't disagree with you, and I hate it when companies (cough cough apple) pulls this shit, but you can't blame Target for going where the money is.
ProtoJMB
May 03, 2012 at 9:28pm
I seriously doubt this has to do with the Apple mini store, as THAT concept is only going to be rolled out to a SMALL number of Target stores, where as Kindles were sold at EVERY Target store. I could be wrong, but I don't think Apple has anything to do with this.
