The Amazon Kindle, as well as other Amazon.com Inc products, will no longer be sold at Walmart stores.
The company said in a memo today that it has decided not to carry Amazon tablets and eReaders.
The memo reads:
“Recently, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. made a business decision to not carry current Amazon products beyond our purchase commitments and existing inventory… Our customers trust us to provide a broad assortment of products at everyday low prices, and we approach every merchandising decision through this lens. We will continue to offer our customers a broad assortment of tablets, eReaders and accessories at a variety of great price points. This decision is consistent with our overall merchandising strategy.”
According to Reuters , Walmart will continue to sellApple’s iPad tablets and Barnes & Noble’s Nook.
It looks like the new policy has already started. A search on Walmart.com for “kindle” reveals several eReader and tablets, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the ASUS Transformer Prime, but Amazon products have already been pulled from the site. Walmart is still selling a few Kindle accessories.
Walmart is the second major store to pull the Amazon Kindle from its store shelves. Target announced earlier this year that it was pulling the Kindle from its store shelves.
The Washington Post reports that the decision could be an attempt by Walmart to stop “showrooming.” With the increasing popularity of online retailers, especially Amazon.com, several people use brick and mortar stores to check out a product. They will then return home to purchase the product online.
