Sainsbury’s to stop selling ebooks

UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has announced it will close its digital entertainment business—including its ebook sales platform—later this year, reports the Bookseller. The supermarket’s customers will be invited to transfer to their ebook libraries to Kobo. Sainsbury’s said in a statement that the company had taken the ‘strategic decision’ to close its digital entertainment offering following a ‘commercial review’ of the business. The company acquired a majority stake in its ebook platform, formerly called Anobii, from the HMV Group in 2012, and purchased it outright in 2014. As previously reported by Books+Publishing, Sainsbury’s stopped selling print books online in 2014, commenting at the time that the move was ‘in line with wider industry trends towards on demand entertainment, and part of our focus on the fast-growing download and streaming market’. Sainsbury’s exit from the UK ebook retail market, of which Amazon has an estimated 90% market share, follows similar exits this year by Waterstones and Nook, and last year by Tesco. Waterstones ebook customers were also invited to transfer their ebook libraries to Kobo.

Category: International news