Kindle sales hit record levels this Christmas!
When you’re relaxing on your sun lounger on holiday this year with your Kindle in one hand and gin and tonic in the other, or simply sitting in your living room reading the latest novel by Dan Brown on your a.nother brand of e-reader, spare a thought to the hundreds of book retailers and publishing houses out there struggling to keep their heads above water, in what must be an incredibly difficult industry to survive in.
Amazon’s Kindle reader first hit the UK back in October 2009, however it seems it wasn’t until this Christmas that the Kindle acheived a whole new level of success. More than 1.3 million e-readers were sold in the UK over the Christmas period, with 92% of these sold being a Kindle, produced by online shop giant Amazon. I can personally say I was one of these shoppers going crazy for the Kindle and brought one for my mum, who hasn’t been seen without it since. According to a number of surveys it was this year’s most popular technology gift for Christmas. Department store John Lewis, reported they sold one Kindle every 30 seconds!
However, with more and more people putting their books down the future doesn’t look too bright for book retailers as the trend for reading from a screen just gets stronger and stronger. Waterstone’s, the UK’s largest chain of bookstores, on the other hand have totally embraced the e-reader technology, viewing it as an opportunity to engage with their existing clientele who want the convenience of an e-reader for holidays or trips on the train, but who also enjoy the shopping experience in their bookstore as well for “traditional” printed books. And lets face it, anyone who has shopped in Waterstones recently cannot deny that it’s a wonderfully enjoyable experience searching the shelves for a book to grab your attention, flicking through the pages and breathing in the adorable smell of newly printed pages. Or taking your kids into the children’s section and see their eyes light up when they spot the Gruffalo on display and start finding wonderfully illustrated books to inspire and excite them (you dont get this level of interaction on a kindle!).
HRG have been working very closely with Waterstone’s over the last couple of years to improve their offering of e-readers with an award winning point of purchase display (see below). Waterstone’s recognise that these electronic devices are now an essential mix in their business with incremental sales coming from their on-line ebook subscriptions see> Waterstones eBook.
The future continues to look bright for e-readers with a new Kindle model scheduled for launch later this year. Could there be a potential showdown between the launches of the iPad 3 and the Kindle fire 3 in 2012 and will Christmas 2012 tell a similar story for Kindle sales, we shall have to wait and see.
Authors: Sophie Dillon
January 9, 2012
High Street Retail, Leisure