eReader price drop not affecting Amazon
By Paul Biba
At least that’s what Aaron Pressman of Gravitational Pull has discovered. He goes on to say:
… I had hoped eReader’s move would generate some pressure on Amazon to reverse the trend of prices creeping higher for Kindle books. But on a closer examination, it looks like the competition might not be generating any pressure on Amazon at all. Well, at least no more pressure than a 4 cent discount creates.
That’s because I had trouble finding any of the best-seller type books Amazon is currently selling for more than $9.99 in the EReader store. Brad Thor’s Apostle: A Thriller costs $14.57 as a Kindle book but it’s not among the seven Brad Thor ebooks offered by eReader.com. Breaking Dawn, the most recent volume of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series, is $11.38 as a Kindle book and $12.95 at eReader.com. Finger Lickin’ Fifteen by Janet Evanovich, which came out on June 23, is $15.37 in the Kindle store but not available from eReader.com.
And amongst the back catalog books, my admitedly cursory survey found Kindle still offering much better prices. Twilight, the first book in Meyers’ vampire series and available as a paperback for $6.59 from Amazon, is $6.59 at the Kindle store but a whopping $10.99 from eReader.com. And, p.s., can I just say again how it is really annoying and customer unfriendly that Amazon has stopped showing the prices of other editions and formats on Kindle book pages.
Image CC licensed, avoidmuse.blogspot.com
July 5th, 2009 at 11:45 am
I don’t know if this will create pressure or not, but realistically, you have to give it some time.
First, it would be a bit of a panic move for a large company to instantly cut price without thinking things through. Secondly, a price cut like this would only have indirect and long term effects on Amazon.
In the immediate time frame, Amazon’s sales are directly related to those who already have Kindles. For your average buyer, this locks them into the Kindle/Amazon store and slight price changes will not change their behavior.
We’d have to look to Kindle/iPhone users and to future purchasers of Kindles to imagine an impact on purchasing. Furthermore, it is not an instant cause and effect relationship. I wouldn’t expect sales of Kindles to instantly dry up when the price change is announced. Arguably, many Kindle buyers do not know that ereader exists.
So, if we are going to see any pricing adjustment, I’d say give it one to three months.
July 5th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Excellent points, Michael. I will say that for iPhone/iPod Touch users, there’s very little friction in buying from one app or the other for ebooks. I’m just as happy to read a book in ereader as the Kindle app.
I guess I was surprised that I couldn’t find any eReader prices undercutting the ebooks Amazon is selling for $14 or $15. Seems like would be a good way at least for eReader to boost sales.
July 5th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
It will take more than just time. It will take market share. In order to exert any competitive influence on Amazon eReader will have to draw tens of thousands of flies to their “honey”.
I doubt that will happen. To the vast majority of book buyers eReader is an unknown.
July 5th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
@HeavyG Hasn’t eReader been one of the top downloads in the book category of the iPhone app store since it appeared? Agreed it’s far behind Kindle, either way.
July 5th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Has the number of downloads translated into you know…sales?
App download numbers are VERY misleading. Just like a piece of shareware back in the day that would be downloaded a million times but sold only a thousand registrations. Did folks actually use it or just check it out and delete it. Or in the case of eReader how many buy books as opposed to just reading public domain stuff?
Will B&N devote the resources to make eReader as commonly known as Kindle? Beats me.
BTW – here’s a title where eReader undercuts the Kindle price ($9.95 vs. $14.82):
http://www.ereader.com/servlet/mw?t=book&bi=90162&si=59
vs.
http://www.amazon.com/Executive-Warfare-Battles-Promoted-ebook/dp/B001CC7REW/ref=ed_oe_k
July 6th, 2009 at 8:17 am
The problem is not Amazon but the collusion between publishers and selfish consumers themselves. I have tirelessly fought with other 9.99> boy-cotters in order to lower the asking price that publishers are trying to force on consumers for their content. We have accomplished a lot and are eternally grateful for all the support that we have received, but are facing an adversary that is completely impossible to overcome, our fellow Kindlers.These people, I will refer to as the individual choicers, in that they fail to realize the concept that “divided we fall.” So until consumers learn to demand as a bloc that most works be priced = or <9.99 I wouldn’t expect any change on pricing for content.
July 6th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Thanks for the counter-pricing example. It gives a clue as to where eReader might cut in — this is not a new book (it was out in hardcover and in the Kindle store a year ago) but it appears to be new at eReader (June 29, 2009 publishing date).
That hopefully means the promise that all “new titles” will be priced at $9.95 or less for the first week applies to old books being newly released for eReader.