Brick and mortar retailing giant Wal-Mart has given online retailing giant Amazon' and its Kindle tablet platform the boot. Wal-Mart announced on Thursday that it would stop selling Amazon's Kindle, Kindle Fire, and Kindle Fire HD, and focus on other tablets and e-readers, including Apple's iPad.
"We have recently made the business decision to not carry Amazon tablets and e-readers beyond our existing inventory and purchase commitments," Wal-Mart said in a memo sent to store managers on Wednesday, according to Reuters. "This includes all Amazon Kindle models current and recently announced."
Wal-Mart didn't specify why, but it is being seen as a competitive issue. Amazon has designed the Kindle Fire and new Kindle Fire HD as a conduit for customers to shop for other products, which is a direct threat to Wal-Mart's own retail empire. The company apparently decided that helping Amazon deliver its retailing weapon into the hands of more people was a bad idea.
Another issue is margins. Amazon is selling all of its Kindle products at razor-thin margins, leaving little in the way of extra money for retailing partners like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, or Target...Did we say Target? That chain stopped carrying the Kindle earlier in 2012.
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