[mjd420nova]

Target stores has ceased selling the Kindle after Amazon (they own and make the Kindle) recommended customers go to a Target store to actually get hands on shopping before coming back to Amazon and buying. Reportedly, Amazons prices were changed to undercut Targets price. Target would rather defeat Amazons shopping opportunity and cease carrying the product than reduce their prices below Amazons. This is a huge step and will undoubtedly affect Amazon and its sales volume.

[compnovo]

mjd420nova, on 03 May 2012 - 09:53 AM, said:

Target stores has ceased selling the Kindle after Amazon (they own and make the Kindle) recommended customers go to a Target store to actually get hands on shopping before coming back to Amazon and buying. Reportedly, Amazons prices were changed to undercut Targets price. Target would rather defeat Amazons shopping opportunity and cease carrying the product than reduce their prices below Amazons. This is a huge step and will undoubtedly affect Amazon and its sales volume.

Hey mjd,
I don't know what Target was charging but the Kindle Fire price on the Amazon site hasn't changed since it was released. I wonder what's really going on....

[nonseq]

Target warned in January that it wouldn’t sit back.

“What we aren’t willing to do is let online-only retailers use our brick-and-mortar stores as a showroom for their products and undercut our prices,” Target executives wrote in a letter to vendors, asking them to think of new pricing and inventory strategies, according to a note that Deborah Weinswig, a Citi analyst, sent to clients.

http://www.nytimes.c...ng-kindles.html

[compnovo]

nonseq, on 03 May 2012 - 01:31 PM, said:

Target warned in January that it wouldn’t sit back.

“What we aren’t willing to do is let online-only retailers use our brick-and-mortar stores as a showroom for their products and undercut our prices,” Target executives wrote in a letter to vendors, asking them to think of new pricing and inventory strategies, according to a note that Deborah Weinswig, a Citi analyst, sent to clients.

http://www.nytimes.c...ng-kindles.html

Thanks nonseq,
I found this on the link you provided:
...over the Christmas holiday, for example, the company offered a promotion on its Price Check app that gave shoppers 5 percent off any item scanned at a store...

I don't think this unique to Amazon and Target, and that a lot of folks walk into a brick-and-mortar to "touch" the object of their desire, only to buy it online.

BTW, as a Washington resident I don't save on sales tax with Amazon purchases....
but that 5% would have been nice.

[LiveBrianD]

Here, I don't have tax on amazon (in California), but I do have tax on newegg, as they have warehouses down near LA. (8.25%) If it weren't for that, I'd purchase things from newegg more often. Admittedly, I have looked at items in stores with little to no intention to buy them there. It's too bad that some retail stores try to charge me MSRP on everything while I can get it online for quite a bit less.

[mjd420nova]

For most who don't know, the wife worked for Target and retired with 28 years. We get a 10% employee discount for life and when you tie your checking account to their "red card" you get another 5%. Not that we do a lot of shopping there but the discounts make a big difference in those high priced items. Too bad they don't do computers anymore, just netbooks and the lower end stuff. Great for printer inks, paper and software. In the stores that have it, beer and wine are a big hit here. Target goes back a long ways, to 1960s in Minneapolis, bought Dayton-Hudson (Canadian) and took them from a top end retailer to a discount department store and expanded to every state. They have their good points and their bad points but are competitive with Walmart with a penny or two higher price. Convienence has become more important than a few pennies. When dealing with high count items they can almost dictate the wholesale prices and keep their retail as low as any. I see many items that only they carry so that at least gets them in the store and that's half the battle.

This post has been edited by mjd420nova: 03 May 2012 - 07:12 PM

[compnovo]

I've been reading up on this some more and I kept help wondering if Target's decision to showcase Apple products in some of their stores might have also influenced this decision.

[mjd420nova]

Most of the time, I've looked in stores for items I had noted on the internet and wanted to look first, the model numbers weren't the same and often completely different prices. I'm not that touchy feely but do like to look before I buy. While shopping for electronics, I'm always going to go to a real store as when ordering off the internet, what you see is not what you get. The web sites use an asterisk and post a discalimer says pretty much the same thing saying delivered products may differ from the photos. Product misrepresentation results in returned items and frustration. And besides, I'm not going to be too happy with the FedEx guy delivering my TV that needs two people to handle properly.

[LiveBrianD]

For me, it depends on what the item is. For instance, I don't care about seeing a motherboard, CPU, or case in store, but I do care for things like keyboards, mice, monitors, and phones, mainly because reviews are subjective, and I've bought things before and disagreed with the reviews later. (this monitor for instance - it's rated a 4/5 on a lot of sites, but is subpar in my opinion)

[lennysylvia]

i don't think amazon people would directly recommend that... it's understandable why people would go to a brick and mortar shop then buy it online... everyone wants to save... moreover, these online stores, especially amazon are doing great with their customer service... there are times that their customer service is way better than those physical shops