Amazon and Barnes & Noble both just announced they are cutting prices on their E-reader tablets in an effort to boost sales. Although Amazon’s Kindle sales were outdone by Nook sales on Black Friday, Amazon is still selling Kindles at a rapid pace. With eBooks selling faster than printed books the E-reader market is getting bigger every day and consumers are snapping up tablets and E-readers in droves.
The Price Cuts
Amazon’s offer is a one day only deal on their Fire HD, knocking $50 off the regular price for customers who buy today . Meanwhile Barnes & Noble has decided to make its price cut permanent, dropping the price of its Nook Simple Touch by $20 to $79. While Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD promotion is on its new high-end offering, the Simple Touch is Barnes & Noble’s low-end offering. Although these devices are still referred to as E-readers by some, they offer much more functionality than just allowing you to read eBooks and their popularity is growing like wildfire.
Big and Growing Sales
While Amazon has been tight-lipped about Kindle sales volume, the company did say on its website recently, “For the third week in a row, customers are purchasing well over 1 million Kindle devices per week.” It’s unclear why Amazon has not disclosed its Kindle sales volume, but in July the company did say that the rate of growth in the sale of Kindles tripled after a price cut. Nook sales have also been brisk and according to Barnes & Noble, “Nook sales for the last quarter were “$160 million, up 6 percent over last year.” Barnes & Noble’s figures include digital content and accessories, in addition to sales of the E-Readers.
Content is the Real King
The real money for Amazon and Barnes & Noble is not in hardware sales, though. Both companies real moneymaker is selling content for people to consume on their E-readers, along with selling them accessories and other products. While some consumers may not realize how big the shift to eBooks has been, on Amazon, there are about 114 eBooks downloaded for every 100 printed books the company ships out to its customers. Total eBook sales now comprise about 15% of all book sales.
The E-reader Landscape
While iPad’s sales trounced other tablet sales handily on Black Friday, garnering 88.3% of tablet sales, they are much more than E-readers and really are not fair to compare to a Kindle or Nook. The Kindle and Nook took 2.4% and 3.1% of sales, respectively on Black Friday and are growing, in spite of not offering all the functionality the iPad offers. One obvious reason for their popularity is their price point. For consumers who only want to read eBooks and magazines and watch movies, an E-reader fits the bill for quite a bit less money than an ipad. The least expensive Kindle or Nook are both under $80 and they both offer high models for well under $300, while Apple’s iPad 2 is retailing for around $400.
The growth in E-reader and eBook sales has gained steam and it doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon. Many conversations this holiday season revolve around which tablet or E-reader will enter the household this year. Whether the price drops will make the decision easier or more difficult isn’t clear, but it is clear these devices are becoming more and more entrenched in our daily lives.
