It’s an interesting proposition; with waves of booklovers migrating to the use of electronic readers and buying e-books (waterstones.com sells approximately 30 e-books per hour from its stock of 15,000 titles) – will it mean both a demise in traditional tactile bookselling and an onslaught of inventive store displays to compete with Amazon, their online foe?
Despite the hit the bookselling market has already taken from Sony’s Reader product, Amazon will be launching their own version of the e-reader, the Kindle internationally this month, finally allowing UK users to purchase the wireless wonder than can download books in less than a minute via 3G technology. Launched to the US in late 2007, it is estimated that there will be over a million users of the Kindle by the end of 2009.
Amazon first hit UK booksellers by revolutionising the market back in 1995 and offering a reputable supplier of both mainstream and independent prints at knocked down prices delivered to the home; it is expected that this next step will hit highstreet sellers further by reducing the need to leave the home in order to obtain the latest title.
Booksellers argue that previously the tool in their arsenal was in being able to provide an experience, an environment where customers could come and peruse products leisurely, leafing through pages to make an informed decision; however with the advent of the e-book there are no carefully placed display stands in store to entice sales, only images of front covers vying for attention to be downloaded.
The challenge will come in making use of space in-store to compete with on-line sales through sites like Amazon, and weighing that against Luddite traditionalists desperate to retain the physical experience of traipsing in to town on a cold Saturday to buy a book.
We’re definitely in that brigade, but Design 4 Retail is pretty interested to see how traditional booksellers will respond in making innovative use of their window displays and in-store spaces to retain their footing in the market.
I had my kindleDX delivered last month. And just wanted to say I am hooked LOL. I did some research on bing and also asked my collegues for feedback. Finally bought it from Kindle Store. They were running a promo and I got $25 off. I am so pleased with it after having downloaded digital media from Amazon – all of them were free! I just love it!
OH crud! i just typed a nice comment and as soon as i submitted it it come up blank! Please tell me it worked properly? I do not want to sumit it again if i do not have to! Either the blog bugged out or i am just stuipd
, the latter doesnt surprise me lol.
Hi Williams, dont know what happened there then…have another go as we would like to hear what you have got to say !!!
I am really moved by the mode that you write, and the subject is good. But do you know that Kindle DRM has been cracked for about a year. It’s just standard Mobipocket DRM. I’m not sure if the Kindle 2 uses the same DRM though.
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