Amazon’s inexperience with global distribution may hinder Kindle Fire sales

By on Sep 30, 2011 at 7:00 AM
Tablets September 30, 2011

Amazon’s $199 tablet is expected by many to be a smash hit when it begins shipping to customers on November 15th, but inexperience with global distribution could prove to be a huge barrier for the fledgling tablet vendor. DigiTimes cited anonymous industry sources on Thursday in reporting that sales of Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet may “not be significant” outside the U.S., the tablet’s initial launch market, and Europe due to the retail giant’s lack of experience with channel sales abroad. The report notes that Amazon will have to develop relationships with regional channel operators in order to facilitate delivery in regions where shipping electronics via standard parcel services is prohibited. “Cooperating with channel operators will be a must as well as a challenge for Amazon as it cannot compete efficiently with Apple utilizing only its current sales platform and online shopping channels,” DigiTimes’ source said.

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19 Comments

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  • http://twitter.com/dajmeister John Childs

    The fact that Amazon isn’t even selling it outside the USA might hinder those international sales even more…

    • Dink

      Umm, that’s the point. Why do you think it won’t be sold outside the US? You think Amazon doesn’t WANT to expand distribution?

      • Anonymous

        Because they are clueless. They did the same thing with Kindle and then overpriced it in Europe.

        Either they don’t know how (and havent’ fixed this since the original Kindle release, which is their bad) or they don’t care, which is their loss.

        At any rate, I’m not waiting for original Fire to EVER be competitive in Europe.

        By the time it would ship, there’ll be much better hardware on the market for a cheaper or same price and shipping widely within Europe.

        Amazon is and will remain a US/NA centered operation. They don’t have the skill or the interest to be really global in this regard. You can pick and choose which you believe in yourself.

        Nokia, Samsung, even Apple to some extent. They know how to launch globally. Amazon does not.

  • Jo House

    What an insight…

  • http://twitter.com/mark2410 mark2410

    “sales of Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet may “not be significant” outside the U.S.”

    that would be because they wont sell it to anyone outside the US.

  • Jondo

    You have GOT to be kidding me! People all over the world are going to want this thing. Amazon isn’t going to have to worry about marketing it, the customers will find them.

  • Anonymous

    I’m sure that Amazon has the resources to handle this issue. Bravo Amazon.

  • Anonymous

    YOu think Amazon can’t hire a firm that deals with ‘regional channel operators’?? wtf is the post?

    you think Amazon is a newb to shipping?

  • Sgandell

    I think the real issue is that Amazon does not licensing deals for streaming distribution of Music and movies.  Hear in Canada we cannot buy and download music or movies.  With no licensing for content, no point selling the tablet.

  • http://twitter.com/verythrax verythrax

    The main point isn’t even distribution. If their services aren’t available at other countries, there’s no point on getting it outside US, even if they can easily ship it to other regions.

    Even their appstore is only available at US and some other countries. With a 8GB tablet focused on streaming and cloud content, it’s the main issue besides the other countries’ lack of structure to deliver real-time streaming and good download rates/prices.

  • http://vincea.twitter.com Vince Averello

    I think Amazon will be happy with the success they should/may find here in the US and the other countries where they’ve got the licenses they need. True it might not outsell the iPad worldwide but that isn’t the only yardstick of success. I see the Fire as the first step for Amazon in this space with their rumored upcoming 10″ tablet as the next. I also feel that Amazon is working on the issues raised in the linked article. It’s a bit presumptuous to assume that the analyst in that article is the only one to foresee the issue.

  • Anonymous

    Let me get this straight, you’re saying Amazon, the biggest (or at least one of the biggest) online retailers in the world, with websites operating in the US, Canada, England, Europe (Spain, Germany, France, Austria), Japan, and China doesn’t have global distribution experience?

    • Anonymous

      I was going to say the same thing.

  • Robert Turner

    BGR you’re not a finance blog, stop regurgitating other sources that may actually know what they’re talking about. It’s a tech blog, stick with the tech.

    Also – I think Amazon knows a thing or two about distribution. Delivering products are kind of their specialty. Europe has the internet too I’m not sure if you know that. First adopters are going to be existing amazon customers anyway.

    • R. Rob

      Yeah, BGR, even though this post has nothing to do with finance… Yeah! Please stop posting about business and things that matter, and go back to posting about crappy Sony Ericsson phones being approved by the FCC like Engadget. This is what we the world wants to read about! Digital cameras, memory cards and FCC approvals! And don’t forget leaked BlackBerry OS builds or the 7 million random laptops announced every three hours. WE NEED THIS INFO!

  • Anonymous

    “where shipping electronics via standard parcel services is prohibited”

    Yikes. Sucks for those people.

    I thought with the “world wide” web you go to a site, or your product, it ships. Easy breezy.

  • Anonymous

    DigiTimes are idiots to think this. Amazon does global distribution every day. WOW.

  • Brian

    What filth. I imagine the extent Amazon has to go to in order to “build relationships” abroad will go something like this:

    -Amazon rep: Hey man, are you guys interested in carrying the Kindle Fire?

    -Regional op: Um, yea. Why wouldn’t we be?

    -Amazon rep: Sho’ you right. *hangs up phone*

    And we’re done here. That fact that DIGITIMES (of all people) thinks they know more about distribution than a company that’s made BILLIONS over doing that very same thing is laughable. BGR, you guys have to stop posting trash like this. 

    Even your most hardcore readers are becoming disgusted.

  • http://identi.ca/LauRoman Laurențiu Roman

    I order a lot of crap from Amazon UK and i live on the other side of the continent.

    Also can no one see the pun “in Kindle Fire sales?”

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