Another tipping point for data about the growth of ecommerce as UK subsidiary of Amazon announces it’s selling more Kindle titles than printed books. This announcement about Amazon ecommerce sales follows expectations that Amazon total sales will overtake Walmart by 2020. Here’s why…
Speaking to the Telegraph, Wiggle chairman and former Asda boss Andy Bond forecast that Amazon will overtake Asda’s US owner Walmart in terms of market value by 2020.
In the interview, he said the big four grocers “aren’t providing the appeal they once did” for shoppers as they lose market share to the discounters.
Bond said Tesco, Asda,Sainsbury’s and Morrisons “aren’t satisfying distressed consumers’ needs” as their cumulative market share falls in stark contrast to rapid growth at German discountersAldi and Lidl.
Bond told The Telegraph: “It’s interesting because the top four supermarkets have cumulatively seen their first decline in market share for many years and that’s partly to do with the genuine appeal of the discount sector.
“That shows the big four aren’t providing the appeal they did and aren’t satisfying distressed consumers’ needs as much as they claim.”
The Wiggle boss dismissed suggestions Tesco could spark a price war as it looks to win back market share. “The claims of cutting prices are totally irrelevant if profits are going up. The reality is that there is no price war, there never has been a price war,” he said.
Bond also criticised high levels of executive pay, stating that the money earned by senior executives at the major grocers has become “slightly gratuitous” compared with average salaries in those companies.
eBooks overtake print sales
In other news, Amazon announced that it now sells more Kindle e-books than printed titles, with 114 sold for every 100 printed versions. This figure does not include free Kindle books.
‘Customers in Britain are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books, even as our print business continues to grow,’ said Jorrit Van der Meulen, vice president of Kindle EU. ‘We hit this milestone in the US less than four years after introducing Kindle, so to reach this landmark after just two years in Britain is remarkable. It shows how quickly British readers are embracing Kindle.’
Van der Meulen continued: ‘As a result of the success of Kindle, we’re selling more books than ever before on behalf of authors and publishers. And thanks to Kindle Direct Publishing, thousands of self-published authors have also been given an outlet to share their work with the millions of Kindle readers worldwide.’
E.L. James is the Kindle store’s most popular author. Her Fifty Shades trilogy has sold more than 2million digital copies in four months. On Kindle Direct Publishing, any Amazon user can upload a book as a Microsoft Word document, set a price, then choose a cover image.