I’ve been struck by how many booksellers are doing well by selling ebook readers. A casual comment hit me over the weekend when someone mentioned that the falling prices of non-branded ereaders was impacting overall revenues. That goes to show the value of owning the device as well as the channel to sell content on the device. On the other hand, it must be painful for bookshop staff to be selling devices that will ultimately close the majority of bookstores!

E-book-news.de recently reported that Thalia’s e-reader, the Oyo sold unexpectedly well in stores, not online. People wanted to touch and try out the readers. But once those Oyo readers are in use, their sales will be exclusively online, and it’s hard to imagine their e-books won’t cut into store sales you don’t have to go to a Thalia store to pick up your online purchase, which cuts out an important opportunity to buy stationary and a toy!, or that a more e-reader-educated generation might not be comfortable buying the readers online in the first place.

via Why Multichannel Bookselling is the Future | Publishing Perspectives.