Price war sees Kobo mini cut to £29

18.06.13 | Lisa Campbell - The Bookseller

A price war has been sparked on e-reading devices as the summer holiday season begins, with many UK outlets offering the Kobo mini e-reader for £29.99 or less.

The move follows Barnes & Noble's aggressive discounting of its original Nook e-reader to £29 from £69 in the UK in May, which led to stores such as Foyles, Blackwell's, Sainsbury's and Asda selling out of stock at the time.

Several outlets, including WH Smith, are now selling the discounted the Kobo mini device, marketed as the "world's lightest e-reader", for £29.99, down from £49.99. Asda is offering the Kobo mini e-reader for even less, at £25. WH Smith is also offering customers a "by one get one half price" deal on Kobo accessories.

B&N managing director Jim Hilt recently told The Bookseller Nook could compete for market share in the UK. He said: "We know how to compete‹we have done it before‹and we have made good progress with it in the US, so that is what we intend to do here." He added: "The content market share will start to shift. It is far too early to say what the impact on market share is from this particular activity, but we are growing the number of people buying content, and what has been most exciting is that they are consuming a lot of it."

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