Tolino Shine’s Rising Popularity Challenges eBook.de in German eBook Market
The eBook market in Germany has been steadily growing over the past few years. While digital books have yet to achieve the market share they already have in the USA or the UK, it seems it’s only a matter of time before the German eBook market catches up.
Unlike in the USA, the battle for the German digital market is far from over. While Amazon has established a near-monopoly in the USA, the fight for customer preference is still ongoing here. Especially since the Tolino Alliance was initiated in 2013, with the backing of retail chains to provide a counterbalance to Amazon, the local market development remains open.
Tolino Shine not only disrupts the market for Amazon
Tolino Shine and Tolino Vision not only challenge Amazon
It was already known that the Tolino Shine played a significant role during last year’s holiday sales, as the Tolino Alliance was able to significantly increase its market share according to GfK, securing the second place from the start. This development not only gave Amazon a setback but also affected another competitor: eBook.de.
In October 2012, Libri.de was transformed into eBook.de. That same year, the retailer scored a great success with the Sony PRS-T2: the eBook Reader sold very well (and rightly so). Although eReaders with built-in lighting were already available at the time, the front-lighting technology was somewhat inconsistent back then. Specifically, the problems with the first Kindle Paperwhite likely deterred some shoppers from purchasing the immature front-lit technology. Meanwhile, ongoing promotions and a holiday partnership with Tchibo helped make the Sony PRS-T2 more appealing.
But then, in 2013, the Tolino Shine hit the market at a competitive price of just 99 euros. By April, eBook.de was also forced to reduce the price of the Sony PRS-T2 to 99 euros (from an already reduced 119 euros).
Since there are no official sales figures for the Sony PRS-T3, released in 2013, it’s only speculation that sales figures declined due to the significantly tougher competition from Tolino, as well as due to improved front-lighting (especially from Amazon). However, based on click rates here on ALLEs eBook.de, this market shift seems quite evident.
eBook.de adapts to the new competitor
The confirmation came in January 2014, as eBook.de managed to increase eBook sales by 80 percent in 2013, and the Tolino Shine was already the second most frequently named favorite reading device in a customer survey. Even though the Tolino Shine can use ePub files from various providers, one might think that content would primarily be purchased from the Tolino Alliance. That the Tolino Shine even outpaces the longer-established competitor Kobo, which has a considerably smaller German-language eBook offering, speaks volumes.
Setting up Tolino Shine at eBook.de – even with video. Similar help for PocketBook devices is nonexistent.
That eBook.de experiences the rapidly growing market share of the Tolino Shine is evident from their own help page in the service area. It describes how to set up the Tolino Shine (and Tolino Vision) and purchase from eBook.de. It’s surprising that there is no such help page for the PocketBook devices in their range.
How long the Tolino page has been online is unclear, but the YouTube video on the site has been available since April 2, 2014, and the page’s source code indicates that the last modification occurred on the same day. Also, in the Web Archive, the page has existed only since April. It can be assumed that the Tolino help page hasn’t been online for long.
Inconvenient: The Tolino Shine (and Vision) lacks the ability to bookmark in the browser. The feature was likely removed to prevent Tolino users from quickly stocking up on reading material from other shops.
Sony PRS-T4 or another flagship for 2014?
Update: Sony has exited the book market, making the PRS-T3 the company’s last eReader. Find more information here
Libri is preparing an eBook shop in cooperation with independent booksellers which aims to provide a counterbalance to Amazon and give smaller booksellers better opportunities. However, since this is also likely in competition with the Tolino Alliance, the specially created Tolino page should not be taken as an indication that eBook.de might add the Shine or Vision to their lineup. Instead, it should be seen for what it is: a reaction to the new market conditions.
It will be interesting to see how things develop, as if Sony again forgoes a lit eBook Reader this year, it would be a significant blow for eBook.de. The entire offer is primarily based on the sale of Sony devices. PocketBook, as mentioned, obviously plays only a subordinate role, and otherwise there aren’t many competitive alternatives.
Image source: eBook.de
